LoRG 1

The rich weapons merchants and the representatives of different Styles tsk ed lightly mocking the brewer for her serious attitude all the while sipping on her ale But then a hush fell over the crowd as an old man with a long long beard walked slowly into the stands area surrounded by a dozen or so powerful looking men and women as an entourage

A hush fell over the crowd and the people took some awkward steps back quickly setting down their food and ale and looked at the ground Claptrap stiffened and even Helen sat up straight Even though she didn’t recognize this particular man she recognized the Tassle carried by one of the Entourage the Steel Feather Style one of the top 3 Styles in Deardun

He looked down his nose at the stand stroking his long beard that fell to his feet He was a large wide man with immensely powerful shoulders If this situation wasn’t handled with delicacy

Hello sir may I take your order The male spear attendant’s slightly bored voice echoed out traveling extremely far in the silence Claptrap stood behind him frozen with horror at the flagrant disrespect in the male spear attendant’s tone

The old man looked side to side very very slowly People moved to the side to avoid his gaze Then he turned to the male spear attendant Are you talking to me boy

Yes what can I get for you

Huhuhuh indeed What is this establishment

Helen turned away from the ridiculous farce the male spear attendant was creating to glance at the poles More Tassles had fallen but they were increasingly unwilling to do so now that they were close to the 80% failure rate for the group Or at least Helen believed so She wasn’t sure how the actual details worked out so they might not know how close they all were to passing But it truly seemed that those that had made it this far were in it for the long haul

This is Claptrap’s Quick Eatery We have foods and ales How may I help you The whole group gasped at the male spear attendant’s unconcerned delivery And the old man of the Steel Feather Style considered him for several long seconds

Ale you say

Several of the rich merchants and those disciples of the higher tiered styles looked guiltily at their ale cups Their faces flushes with shame and they inwardly swore to make sure that Claptrap’s Quick Eatery was crushed before the day was through for this shame

But then those people froze because the old man was laughing Kukukuku I truly haven’t had ale in quite some time Don’t tell my wife but I too enjoy a good ale What do you have

To Helen’s surprise the male spear attendant simply nodded Truly indulgence is the spice of life Hey brewer What are the ales

All gazes turned from the male spear attendant to the brewer woman who was trembling Uh we have a deep ale and a shallow one And also Uh a r r r red one

And the food The bearded man said

Cheeseburger cheesesteak bbq pulled pork bbq ribs and for sides we have fries and mozzarella sticks

The bearded man frowned his face becoming quite unsightly I

There was a long silence that stretched at least a minute I must admit I don’t know what any of those things are

An old hand now at confused customers the male spear attendant nodded and gestured Here this is our recommended order for newcomers a cheeseburger and fries along with a red ale

A stumbling and stammering Claptrap came forward and handed the food to the male spear attendant who passed it to the bearded man He slowly unwrapped the food and then brought it to his mouth His mouth stretched wider and wider until he took a huge bite that was fully ? of the cheeseburger

Chewing very slowly the man never blinked Then he swallowed heavily and took a swig of red ale There was a moment of silence as the audience watched with bated breath This bearded man was a social strata above them all An actual elder of a Style How would he

Belch

Ohoho excuse me Truly an excellent place is this Claptrap’s Quick Eatery I am Aethon Thai What are you called boy

Ah my name is Rog

A low gong sounded Helen turned back to the poles More Tassles had fallen from poles and it had apparently reached the 80% cut off Now more Tassles were being removed but they were taken to the winners pole where they hung proudly But not all Tassles were removed

6 Tassles remained hanging on their poles and it announced that these were competing for the final reward for total time spent under the Challenge of Tarnak The Tassle that had hung alone on the 19th pole remained still drifting proudly

But what was most interesting about the other Tassles that remained was that there was a single pole where two remained The Ghosthound’s pole where his emerald Tassle was facing off with a bright orange Tassle

For a long while Randidly was able to simply play with his strange emerald wisps ignoring the bickering of the outside world as the distracting nonsense it really was His physical body just needed to stand their and support the weight anyway there was nothing very special about the task It was purely endurance

But after a time an indeterminate time that resisted all of Randidly’s puzzled attempts to measure it he felt the difficulty inch upward But still it was within reason But a few minutes later the difficulty shot sharply up It seemed that although they could withstand that level of weight there were much fewer people who could handle the increased weight

Almost unwillingly Randidly left his emerald wisps and returned to solely focusing on his physical body meeting the weight head on The first thing that Randidly did was activate Mana Strengthening It was a pretty quick depletion it would last him an hour but he also engaged more directly with his passive Golden Roots of Yggdrasil drawing mana from the ground into his body

As he did so Randidly focused on the feeling of the warm energy flow and visualized the thick vital roots of energy that he wanted running up to him It was a slow and clumsy method but as Randidly kept his focus up he felt his Aether start to pulse in response Those thick roots pressed downward splitting and spreading drawing the energy towards him Slowly his drawing speed increased if only slightly

The weight was a crushing presence and now Randidly’s temper flared wildly It wasn’t even his temper really it was the primal vicious side of him that hated the constraints of the world It hated powerfully and purely like a child And to it this weight was the ultimate evil He would break the world itself to rip it to pieces

But again Randidly reigned in that temper Although he powerfully desired it he couldn’t allow himself to explode with force There was no point He was aiming for a longer goal He simply had to endure

Endure

Chapter 198

Slowly but surely Randidly found himself achieving an equilibrium with the weight It wasn’t something that he could handle for long but for now

Again the weight increased Then it increased again Growling Randidly opened his eyes looking around

Of the beginning 40 or so participants only about 24 remained The others were gone and as Randidly opened his eyes he saw one particularly unwilling individual struggle furiously against two attendants swearing But of course the struggles were rather feeble in the grand scheme of things If that individual had had the stamina to continue to struggle they wouldn’t have failed the challenge of Tarnak

Randidly allowed himself a smile that was all teeth Well perhaps that wasn’t true In a perfect world the only cause of failure would be the fact that a participant had reached their limit But this wasn’t a perfect world

Sore muscles itching legs tingling numbness in the legs all of these things could lead to a person deciding to give up before he or she reached the limit of his/her physical ability

To Randidly’s surprise Orangey still remained the veins in his neck bulging in a very dangerous looking way A stroke seemed just around the corner Randidly evened his breathing as best he could and began to vary the way that he was resisting the force that weighed down on him As of now Mana Strengthening alone supplemented by Golden Roots of Yggdrasil wasn’t enough

So Randidly began using Empower in brief spurts to burn some of his rapidly returning stamina to supplement his much more concerning mana consumption Then Randidly grinned and burned more stamina using two minutes of pure Empowered lifting to get it below 50% where Second Wind began to kick in

It made him sweat slightly to see how short a time period he could exert that level of effort and become only halfway full on stamina but it definitely recovered quickly Then he basically began alternating between Mana Strengthening and Empower as a way to continue to support the weight

But that wasn’t enough This was all just buying time because Randidly knew the worst was yet to come As more people failed out the weight that he personally had to bear was much greater than it had been in the past And he had seen multiple Skills level up so he was slowly gaining an edge but it obviously wouldn’t be enough against this huge weight So he began to experiment with other methods

One of those was to use Rejection to directly reject the weight that was pressing down on him or reject his tiredness Very quickly Randidly could feel the edges of his mind becoming foggy and frayed and he slowed his use of it It did seem that he could mitigate the effects of the wariness somewhat but he couldn’t overuse it or it would slowly erode his consciousness until he collapsed But it helped a little

Another way was to use Absolute Control Freeze to stop moving for a second allowing him a brief period where the skill was in effect and he could allow his muscles a break It wasn’t much and there was a rather large Stamina cost but it was enough to break up the monotony of simply holding the weight

And it was good to know that it was possible because as the weight increased these would become absolutely necessary

Randidly also thought about the rules and had some other ideas about the things he could do to win but decided against it for now It was ultimately an endurance exercise better to wait as long as possible before revealing his cards He needed to win in the long term and there was very little more he could do right now

But the weight began rising rapidly A few people finally gave up and then several more collapsed in a cascading series where for several seconds it seemed like the weight on them was constantly increasing Their group was quickly knocked down to 15 remaining with all of them showing obvious signs of strain

With glowing eyes Randidly looked around at the surrounding people Then he closed them His Aether was slowly growing more restless it’s pulsing icy hot tendrils thick and winding through his body In a way as the Aether became more active Randidly could also peer deep into it seeing a giant endlessly deep well There were wild currents and eddies deep within that pool of Aether but Randidly did not fear them Because he knew instinctively they were his

Again the weight rose and again Randidly gritted his teeth and resisted it As he did so those movements in the Aether became more frantic The swirling was more wild and dangerous and as that happened the Aether seemed to settle and become thin As it was lazy it was a thick heavy thing but the more Randidly struggled the more violent and translucent the Aether became

His inward focus became locked on it even as the weight grew more demanding But he couldn’t look away because as Randidly looked he could see something Infinitely deep infinitely far away through a vast distance that seemed to be clear but it took a small period of time before the swirling Aether shifted out of the way to reveal the core of this manifestation inside himself

It was a hole But it was pulsing slowly stretching and contracting Like it was breathing Like it was a mouth

As Randidly watched it he noticed that it really was producing Aether when it contracted exhaling but as it slowly swelled there was no change in the Aether It only produced So Randidly narrowed his eyes confused Almost instinctively he activated Eyes of the Spear Phantom His gaze focused

It was faint but he could see it floating slowly downward to that sucking mouth Little motes of light Some of them were blue some were red some were golden and some were glistening black but the vast majority almost 75% of them were emerald in color glowing brilliantly

Randidly chilled inwardly Because although it was in a polluted and rough state Randidly recognized those glistening motes It was definitely related to those flitting wisps of energy that were dancing in his chest

But then a dull ringing made Randidly lose his concentration and return to his body he glanced up and looked around People were collapsing left and right but the weight didn’t increase He frowned and saw that the female attendant was shaking her head sadly as if disappointed

Well some of you passed If you choose you may continue to chase the ultimate reward for the Challenge of Tarnak but all of you have already passed

Then the female attendant paused as she glanced over towards Randidly Ah but if you choose to continue know that it will be considered a failure if you do not last a full 24 hours even if you end up winning the reward Are you willing to gamble with your lives The weight shall remain at the level it was prior to the passage

I am

Randidly turned surprised to find that Orangey was glaring at the female attendant still maintaining his firm stance His limbs had a definite tremble to them but he had a determined look in his eyes that made Randidly suspect that Orangey’s body would give out before his will would

In a way it made Randidly much more fired up about it and he too nodded He wasn’t sure how much longer it was until 24 hours but he did not choose this path because it was easy in fact it was exactly the opposite It was only because it was difficult that he chose this path

The people who accepted that the trial was over left chatting happily Meanwhile Randidly turned towards Orangey who also turned to face him There wasn’t any recognition in Orangey’s eyes but there was a respect After all they both were aware about how difficult this was They nodded to each other simultaneously and then settled into their concentrations

For his part Randidly was tired of playing fair he opened up his status screen

He had gained 3 Skill Levels in Physical Fitness 6 in Golden Roots of Yggdrasil 4 in Mana Strengthening 2 in Empower and Mental Fortitude 4 in Rejection and Second Wind 5 in Struggle and 3 in Absolute Control Freeze It was a small amount of PP in the grand scheme of things especially for his training experiences

He funnelled them all into his path earning himself 2 Willpower and Resistance which Randidly believed would be useful for this In addition his Soul Skill also gave him 2 points in Vitality 2 points in Strength and 3 in Control 15 health 15 mana and +1 to all regeneration The Strength was probably the biggest direct boost but the Vitality helped his stamina regeneration and the flat regeneration helped across the board

What was most disturbing to Randidly was that this put him at a single point away from finishing his Path He didn’t have anymore PP right now but he would likely get one at some point in this contest And when he did

He knew something would happen So although this boost was nice Randidly swore to himself he wouldn’t do it again When he obtained this piece Randidly expected that he would need to make a decision and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do that while supporting a weight

The fucker that put these locks on his soul would have to wait First was to crush the competition here

Chapter 199

It was more a trance than anything else Randidly reflected as the time trickled past The weight grew to a dull pounding but was possible to support as Randidly quickly managed to find an equilibrium with Meditation Mana Strengthening Empower and Rejection in the face of the weight

That almost dreaded PP came and went and Randidly was sorely tempted to just finish the path but he knew that his wild anger he had within him due to the long nature of the challenge was just prodding him towards dumb decisions So he resisted that urge and instead just doubled down on the task at hand The weight was not growing in a literal sense but it did seem like Randidly’s strength and the weight were on a teeter totter and as one went up the other went down

If his will waivered if he allowed his shoulders to drop it became that much easier to let it fall another inch and it was almost impossible to press upwards returning to the previous equilibrium

Although his competitive spirit was definitely roused by the presence of Orangey Orangey himself was a pretty dull opponent After their initial acknowledgement Orangey settled into a stance and stuck to it

He was even drooling a little

After a brief grimace Randidly closed his eyes and attempted to do the same After all no matter what happened it would be a long night

Helen sat very still After a while as the male spear attendant chatted with the old man from the Steel Feather Style she had realized that the situation had devolved into a strange drinking match that more and more people were joining and her intervention wasn’t necessary Although Claptrap and the brewer had wild eyes and nervous twitches as more and more people approached demanding to be served Helen didn’t make any effort to assist either

After all their pockets were heavy with coins If there was any lesson that her mother taught Helen that she actually valued it was that money had an influence independent of power Because in a way money was much more versatile

It was very difficult to both create a merchant empire and to reach even the Artisan level with the spear But for an individual at the helm of a merchant empire even Pontiff level spear users could be swayed by the offer of rare materials and equipment They would be fine as they stumbled haphazardly into their newfound wealth

Instead Helen’s attention was focused on the Tassles A few hours after it had begun one of the 6 had fallen It was neither the Ghosthound’s or the Tassle that still remained on his same group Still it was disappointing for that individual for that was considered a loss

They were forced to gamble with their opportunity to pass this stage Discovering wealth came with a cost just as Claptrap was learning

The world seemed to slow as Helen stared intently at the Tassles She was so focused on it that her hands were grinding away at the material of the seats almost instinctively Was it because they had slept together that she felt this attachment Was it due to their relationship as his spear attendant Was it something more some inexplicable connection

Either way it was fucking annoying

But Helen couldn’t bring herself to look away She told herself that it was just because she was thankful for the strange boost of Aether that he had provided and perhaps there was a thread of truth in that but she sensed it was a lie She was here for a large and strange reason that she refused to examine too closely Better to just experience this without having to face some parts of herself that she might not like

Parts of her that filled her will fear

Time continued to pass and the drinking began to grow more raucous at first and then less as some people were finally unable to continue even with their extremely high Vitality and Endurance stats That or they had drunk all of the alcohol brewed by that woman leaving her nothing but gold and empty casks

The Tassles were at the the 19th pole the 14th pole the 13th the 9th and then finally the 2 at the 7th It was around 7 hours into the 24 hour period that Tassle on the 14th pole fell It was the most excitement that had happened for a while so it inspired another fit of revelry Another brewer was called In addition the people who had passed the first half of the preliminary were mostly recovered at that point and came back to watch those foolish people who attempted to persist

Claptrap was forced to send out for more ingredients It would be a long night for him as he had established his small stall as the place to be around the stands Very quickly the high level sects and merchants began to jockey for position at the tables Claptrap had set up The Steel Feather Style old man had claimed the most central and convenient table for viewing and around him the social strata eventually worked themselves out

For those who arrived late unless they had a high level of prestige it was almost impossible to approach those central tables Instead they could only eat surreptitiously at the fringes looking around at the strange set up in wonder

Two hours later the Tassle on the 13th pole fell Helen’s eyes sharpened Not because of anything in regards to the Tassles but because the old man from the Steel Feather Style was staring intently at the Tassle on the 19th pole A frown slowly grew on his face

Based on this progression Helen grimaced At least if there was some sort of pattern moving through the poles the Ghosthound’s pole would be the last to be reached

Sure enough around 16 hours into the exercise the Tassle on the 9th pole fell There was only the two on the Ghosthound’s pole now Helen felt the tension descend through her spine twisting her body inward into a small ball What was most frustrating was that she could do nothing She supposed that was to be expected generally spear attendants were rather common and rather useless They might obtain some small amount of teachings or benefits from the relationship but it was a route taken primarily by the desperate

Like a desperate woman following an impulse all in order to escape the grasp of her family

But her time with the Ghosthound and Shal and Divvit was special They had treated them with respect and the two experienced spear users had both casually given pointers to the spear attendants which was a great honor considering they both were at or near the Adept level of spearmanship

It was a family very unlike her own in a way A brutal and violent family A family that sometimes had sex with each other

Shut the fuck up Helen whispered to herself her eyes narrowing into slits Why the fuck did her brain always spit out the most fucked up shit

So she tried to maintain a clear head and just stared at the 7th pole waiting for something to change

Just the weight just him in eternal balance Randidly had proceeded past the stage where he felt the exertion he had just internalized it Additionally he didn’t seem to breath any longer The only movements were the circulation of Aether within his chest It was wild and hungry too and the longer Randidly resisted the urge to give in the more it responded to his actions He would bear this weight to the day he died he swore to himself

Of course another part of him was very skeptical of this sort of fatalism but it was certainly easier for him to commit to something ridiculous in order to manage something attainable It pushed his boundaries in a very real way He even had thoughts of continuing to hold up the weight long past the time of the Challenge of Tarnak

Just to see his own limits

It was also possible for another reason his eyes were long since closed and time was a nebulous concept It grew and stretched becoming infinite and fleeting It was extremely strange There was only the struggle and under the metaphoric weight of that struggle time bent and struggled

Although most of his attention had to remain focused on the struggle the constant cycling of skills used to maintain his position another part of him explored that small insight into time Sometimes it flowed quickly other times slowly It was not even and standardized but elastic like a rubber band that grew longer the more pressure there was

But that wasn’t exactly true was it It was standardized For even the most vicious and painful experiences were eventually yanked offstage by time as the world moved on But for the truly terrible experiences that time would remain within you endlessly looping endlessly heavy just dragging at your sanity

It was almost as if there were two parts of time The time you experience and the time that passes

Randidly would perhaps have continued to puzzle over this with his spare attention but in his chest something strange was happened He with a great effort of will returned to his inward area where he saw his 5 emerald wisps of energy dancing But they weren’t the source of the commotion It was his Soul Skill

Immediately Randidly felt a sinking feeling but as he watched his fears didn’t come to pass the flaming ash energy that continued part of his cycle was beginning to glow brighter and somehow more furious There was also a strange vibration in the air A strange eloquent resonance

Enemy

Chapter 200

After a moment of trembling focus Randidly forced himself out of that ideal suspended state following the thin warning of enemy that came from his soul skill Immediately his return threw off his focus and he faltered switching from one skill to the other The weight pressed downward and his shoulders dropped two inches

Growling Randidly switched to the active version of Golden Roots of Yggdrasil strength flooding through his limbs He had gained quite a few skill levels since the last time he had used the active skill and it showed by how much warm powerful heat flowed through his limbs

But he knew intimately that this warm power was fueled by Stamina so after pressing upwards and righting his equilibrium with the weight Randidly let it drop and glanced around chest heaving Mana Strengthening pushed to its limit

Orangey was there even more drool coming out of his mouth But the drool had pooled on the ground and frosted over slightly The temperature had definitely gotten cold

Randidly turned to his right where the female attendant was standing bored and then to his left only to discover a figure walking slowly towards him and Orangey He blinked slowly The figure was composed entire of ice

His eyes focused It was a female figure slight and short with hair cropped short falling around her face to the base of her skull Other than that most of the features were indiscernible but it noticed Randidly’s gaze and turned to meet it An instinctual hatred rose up in Randidly’s gut and he felt very instinctively that this was an enemy And the system confirmed it

Warning You have encountered an Initiate of Frostbite As there is currently a Judgement of Frostbite hanging above your head unvanquished this Initiate will experience increased power and regeneration while fighting you In addition the Judgement will be informed of your location Vanquish your foe if you wish to continue to flee

Randidly’s expression soured He supposed it was foolish to think that his spell would have killed the Judgement but it would have been convenient And if it was still looking for him

And it had all this time to grow stronger and spawn minions while stuck in the prison If it came for him

But the ice girl smiled at Randidly in a way that forced his focus back to the problem at hand she was coming She began to run forward her ice toes tapping lightly on the ground In her hands was a long and thin spear made of ice and she pointed it towards Randidly’s heart

Then she accelerated becoming a blur of ice Randidly’s eyes narrowed

When the strike came it was faster than he could believe from the strange ice statue But it wasn’t as fast as Shal or Divvet could move Roaring with all his strength Randidly’s feet twisted as he activated Footwork of the Spear Phantom and moved to the side while still maintaining the weight up in the air

His strength exertion meter dropped to 6% at a point but he was able to get out of the way and support it again before he dropped any lower

Then Randidly froze

Circle of Fl

Too late Came the whispered reply from the ice statue as the ice spear took Orangey in the throat ripping a large hole in his flesh and causing his eyes to spring open Randidly saw him tremble and reflexively go to reach for the wound but then Orangey resisted that urge and continued to support the weight

Blood oozed up from the wound dribbling out and quickly soaking his shirt Randidly hastily canceled the spell realizing it would injure Orangey just as much and turned his attention to the ice statue

The thing shrugged at him No hard feelings I just need to obtain the reward for lasting the longest Surrender and I’ll spare you

I reject Randidly hissed his heart beat rising quickly A strange furious heat had filled him The Aether in his chest was roaring and spinning The heat grew and grew mixing with the anger Orangey remained stoic even as he eyed them both

Then you have my permission to die The ice woman raised her spear but her ankles were crushed by roots that had wormed their way upward through the contraption beneath them to seize the ice creature Although it was harder than typical ice it was still child’s play to shatter it to pieces

The ice woman yelped in surprise and then began to twitch and curse IT HURTS IT HURTS GOD DAMNIT I’ll KILL

Randidly crushed the skull The rest turned to water and flowed away from them quickly disappearing Already Randidly could feel the temperature rising and he turned to Orangey

The man immediately grimaced But Randidly shook his head The man was trembling and it wasn’t the trembling of strain It was the trembling of weakness

if we continue I will die Do the honorable thing and surrender Orangey said boldly his eyes narrowed

Randidly just sighed at the other’s shamelessness I cannot

You covet the reward that much That you would be willing to kill me I suppose such an action is all too common Orangey muttered but Randidly shook his head again Taking the moral high ground now Orangey Really

No it is not the prize It is a promise I gave my word so I will achieve the top 8 in this regional tournament That is the reason

Orangey blinked Are you aware of how unlikely that is It is comment worthy when an individual from the qualifiers makes the top 50 of the regional tournament it is completely dominated by those from the larger Styles That is our fate Why should you be any different

Because I need to be to keep my word Randidly said breathing out softly But his resolve was firm in this regard it was necessary so he would That was all he could do

Sighing Orangey lowered his shoulders and stepped to the side allowing his exertion to fall below 10% Then he began to walk away

Thank you Randidly said quietly although it was more for the man’s benefit than his own gratitude Afterall all Orangey had done was prevent himself from dying needlessly But what surprised Randidly was that Orangey spun around and spat on him

I have no respect for fools like you who don’t understand their place in the world Look at yourself You are pointlessly holding a giant rock for the amusement of others while the chosen wait ahead refreshed and informed of your capabilities If you truly had any hope of reaching the top 8 would you really be here struggling under a rock

Randidly was silent The red hot Aether in his chest demanded violence for the insult but he ignored that His arms trembled and his body was covered in lines of sweat He was exhausted of all of this It had gone on for too long and he had to finish the 24 hour period still to finish But for a split second Orangey’s words caused him to waver

Shaking his head Randidly slowly spoke to reject Orangey’s worldview It is true that I won’t simply find the strength to accomplish my goal just by seeking it But I will surely never find the strength to be more if I don’t push myself to reach higher

Mere platitudes Orangey hissed turning away They will be a small comfort when you fail

Randidly allowed his head to drop and he sighed He refocused checking in on his Mana and Stamina finding both to be extremely low He smiled lopsidedly It would certainly be a hard trek this last part which he didn’t really know the time of He had no idea

But he would do his best because

If you make it to the top 8 I will buy you a drink Orangey said without turning around standing at the edge of the apparatus Then he left the attendants escorting him away

The Aether in Randidly’s chest ignited His grin was wide and vicious

With eyes filled with brilliant emerald flames Randidly whispered And I’ll use the trophy of this whole fucking tournament to sip and savor that drink

Far away a pair of eyes slowly opened Finally the Yeti had located the target He had become aware that the target had fled from the temporal dimension that it was isolated in but that wasn’t a problem It gave the Yeti time to build his strength

Judgement would follow the Heretics to the edge of the world and beyond

There was something extremely strange about this Heretic in that the holy weaponry appeared to have no effect The Yeti was still struggling to come to terms with this information but he set that to the side There was no redeeming sinners They simply must be punished That was his role

His gaze drifted outward at the sea of chittering minions the Yeti had already summoned Initially the prisoners had put up a good fight slowly driving the Yeti and his minions backwards But against those that interfered in the Yeti’s Judgement quest he received a larger portion of his strength the restrictions were somewhat lessened

When he took the field he broke their strongest and overwhelmed the rest Now he hunted the stragglers and spawned more minions waiting

And now he finally had the signal he had been waiting for

The Yeti’s face twisted in a smile

Chapter 201

The 24 hour period ended with only a single Tassle remaining the Ghosthound’s Helen shed a single tear then blushed furiously even though basically no one was paying attention to her

The strange part was that just when her tension was highest the Tassle on the 19th Pole fell drifting slowly down Then a few minutes later the orange Tassle on the Ghosthound’s pole dropped too leaving only a single survivor

The emerald and gold colors were eye catching and not in a good way There was a lot of frantic whispers as it emerged as the only remaining Tassle When it remained through the 24 hours there was no celebration only a certain sense of relief They could finally move on after all there was still a second half of the preliminary that would take place tomorrow

When he left the Ghosthound was limping slowly his shoulders visibly knotted and tense and his arms held uncomfortably at his sides There was a slight tremble to his movements Helen’s first instinct was to run to him and offer some help but

Then she saw his eyes They absolutely burned so much so that she was rooted to her spot in the stands as he approached It was as though something deep within him was finally revealed by the Challenge of Tarnak Something primal and unrelenting The Ghosthound had always been a ridiculously dedicated individual who spent most of his time training But now

He looked like the naked head of a spear shiny and pure a forged instrument of war with a single purpose

God it made her fucking horny as shit

The old man from the Steel Feather Style straightened as the Ghosthound approached all signs of intoxication and revelry falling away from his face revealing a chiseled and lined face filled with strength Almost immediately the feeling in the air changed charged by the powerful spear intent that this man emitted naturally It was so much that the air grew cold The Ghosthound immediately turned facing the man and the crowd between them parted

As the surrounding people slowly fell silent their gazes locked on the Ghosthound the old man smiled Congratulations boy I am Aethon Thai On behalf of the Regional Association of Northern Styles I am here to grant you with the reward for passing the entire Challenge of Tarnak and for being the final remaining competitor in the first part of the preliminaries

Here Aethon paused then grinned wildly I am glad There were some disciples from the top tier Styles that snuck in the preliminaries for this reward The fact that you were able to stoically endure even through their designs on this reward gives me hope for the Northern Region We cannot simply rely on the highest level Styles for our strength The importance of the development of the unaffiliated Spear Users is paramount Do you have a Style boy

The Ghosthound nodded slowly looking slowly around at the surrounding individuals I am a member of the Spear Phantom Style

Someone in the crowd breathed in sharply while others looked around in confusion

Aethon’s eyes twitched but otherwise his gaze remained the same A young Style but also one I had thought already had died Interesting Take your reward and rest boy For tomorrow too you will be expected to exceed expectations Otherwise you will be forgotten like a passing breeze

Aethon offered a small box to the Ghosthound who took it and slowly turned away An attendant approached and offered him his spatial ring Claptrap was packing up and the male spear attendant drifted downwards heading for the Ghosthound

Helen awoke with a start and quickly followed She felt eyes on her lingering on her curves even through her indescribably shitty leather outfit Her face flushed but her eyes were locked on the Ghosthound

As she arrived at his side her mental voice was swearing profusely telling her to offer some sort of help some sort of assistance as the Ghosthound limped slowly forward He was clearly recovering his monstrous recovery speed revealing itself but still he had been pushed to the edge of his capabilities for 24 hours Anyone would be drained and exhausted She should she should fucking do something and not just stand here like a fucking cunt

Helen

They had walked some distance away and the curious merchants and vice leaders of Styles turned away and began to discuss what had happened Only now did the Ghosthound open his mouth his voice low and even

Uh fuck you look like shit Helen blurted out then glared at him for making her feel so simultaneously mortified and weirdly affectionate

The Ghosthound just smiled Your arm

Helen opened her mouth then thought better of it and simply held up her arm for him He placed his hand on top of it extremely lightly like the weight of a falling leaf blown off a tree by a breeze extremely unobtrusive But she could feel through that small touch a strange trembling of his body demonstrating how close he was to his limits

Flushing with even more embarrassment Helen somehow was able to close her mouth and look at the ground And so they walked the remaining distance back to their lodgings with all of Helen’s focus wrapped up in that small tremble in the Ghosthound’s body

Randidly gaped looking at the small belt inside of the box

Master’s Fine Leather Belt Lvl 49 Leather armor lovingly processed and worked into a belt Made with the skin of a cursed Werewolf Vit +5 Str +5 Agi +5 Willpower 5 Health +100 Runic Stitching II

Engraving of Reflection III 90% ® The wearer easily finds their center and has increased powers of self reflection Ability to shape images is slightly increased Concentration of the wearer is increased by 20% Wearer gains Aspect of Reflection IV

Aspect of Reflection IV Willpower +15 Resistance +15 Wisdom +9

Runic Stitching II The Master who worked the leather of the belt has developed her own basic personal process of Leatherworking and benefits begin to accrue within the armor Focus +4 Perception +10

Randidly breathed slowly his eyes glittering So this was the level of Engraving for the guilds Not only the Engraving but the base materials were incomparable with what he was currently working with The belt itself was +24 to his stats and an additional +100 to his health before the Engraving was added

And the Engraving itself not only did it reference an increased ability to shape images but also the bonus of improving concentration by 20% How would that even work And an additional +39 stats

Truly it was a monstrous gift Randidly could understand why even the disciples of the larger Styles were willing to go through the Challenge of Tarnak in order to obtain it It was truly a qualitative step forward simply by wearing this equipment Randidly reminded himself that he needed to push his way forward to the point that he could Engrave an entire set of armor for himself but that would need to wait

Besides they were not permitted to have any real equipment on during the preliminary aside from their spear So it wouldn’t necessarily increase his chances of passing the next level of the preliminary tomorrow but it would definitely help him moving forward as the tournament continues It would be invaluable

Slowly Randidly wrapped the belt around his hips tightening it and equipping it Randidly blinked slowly feeling it immediately the sudden rush of clarity that suffused him His mind seemed sharper more robust and focused It was incredible As his breathing increased in speed Randidly looked at his stats

Health(/R per hour) 1322/1364 (+118) (491 (+27

Mana(/R per hour) 649/1484 (+5) (133 75 (+9

Stam(/R per min) 1233/1495 (210 (+9

Vit 142 (+9)

Str 110 (+17)

Agi 131 (+17)

Perception 100 (+10)

Reaction 100

Resistance 89 (+15)

Willpower 133 (+10)

Wisdom 56 (+9)

Control 197

Focus 149 (+4)

Equipment Average Leather Tunic Lvl 5 (+2 Vit) Gloves of Quickness (Vit +1 Agi +3) Necklace of the Shadow Cat Lvl 20 ® (Vitality +1 Strength +2 Agility +7) Master’s Fine Leather Belt Lvl 49 (Vit +5 Str +5 Agi +5 WP +10 Resist +15 Wis +9 Focus +4 Per +10 Health +100)

Randidly couldn’t help but be pleased It was a powerful addition and it was something that was worth more than all of his other equipment combined Perhaps even more valuable than the stats too was the increase in concentration which felt like a palpable rush of increased mental power

He went to remove it then hesitated Randidly’s mouth parted in a brutal grin No he would keep the belt on After all what came next would perhaps be the time he most needed access to that increased concentration Perhaps he was building this up to be nothing but

Randidly felt that with a single PP he was about to finally meet the creator of these bells and locks And he would destroy every single one of their carefully laid plans

Chapter 202

First Randidly settled himself and focused on recovering his Health Mana and Stamina to their ideal state He even considered going outside to have Weeping Cloud’s rain fall on him increasing his mental recovery even further but somehow Randidly was profoundly worried about being discovered at the moment

If perhaps Shal was here

But Randidly quickly crushed that train of thought He would be fine His mind was already sharper than it had ever been before with the addition of the belt and he wouldn’t need the support of anyone else for this In the back of his mind he knew this outlook was foolish but he was blinded by fury over the irresponsibility of Shal’s behavior so he continued irregardless

When his breathing was even and he felt completely focused Randidly finally opened his menu and looked at the PP he had earned over the latter part of the Challenge of Tarnak

He had gained 4 more Skill Levels in Physical Fitness 9 in the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil and Mana Strengthening 3 in Empower 7 in Rejection and Absolute Control Freeze 4 in Meditation and Second Wind 3 in Superiority and Bacterial Regeneration 10 in Struggle and 1 in Root Control

It was overkill for a single PP to complete a path but it was something Randidly was glad about Hopefully after there would be a path worth moving towards After another breath he put the last PP into the Weeping that Falls Like Rain Path completing it

Congratulations You have completed the Weeping that Falls Like RainPath The path is long and winding and you feel completely separated from the world around you isolated by curtains of falling rain The only constant presence is your reflection in the puddles that surround you But still you step forward through it regal and proud As you continue your mental acuity continues to grow This is your path Willpower +5 Resistance +5 Reaction +20 You also obtain a powerful shard of energy that can be used to create a Soulskill or merged with your current skill

The stat completion bonuses were nice but they were ultimately a small thing What was important was that newly awakened form of energy the cool blue energy floating inside of Randidly’s chest After a moment of hesitation he reached out and touched it

It began to vibrate slowly and inside of his inner world a resonance emerged Those tiny bells began to ring It was a slow thing as the tiny bells around the icy murderous energy and then the small sphere of energy began to ring Then ponderously the larger bell that was attached to his Soul Skill began to ring with huge ringing booms its sound spreading through Randidly’s whole being The noise set his teeth on edge but he could only grit his teeth and endure

This was still within expectations He knew that this would set off a process within himself just that

Randidly blinked What he didn’t expect was for a figure to slowly take shape before his very eyes Long limbs smooth skin big round eyes A female form slowly condensed in his chest starting as just a doll but slowly coming alive lifting its head and looking at him But even then it didn’t stop Aether swirled and moved shifting into shapes and being drawn into that body And the more Aether it absorbed the more real it became

The bells continued to ring and the body became more real and Randidly clenched his fists powerfully So this this was the architect of all of this bullshit Although she was clearly feminine her hair was completely shaved giving her a strange childlike innocence Her eyes were extremely large but even more strangely they were completely robin’s egg blue a solid sheet of it

Her first action as the last bit of Aether curled in and completed her body was to take in a large breath Then she smiled Wonderful Wonderful wonderful I’ve waited a long time for a man like you Randidly Ghosthound

Randidly remained silent sizing her up Her voice was light but he couldn’t relax around a woman who so naturally shaped Aether in the way she had just demonstrated And besides now that he finally found himself face to face with the being that had interfered with the way that the System worked on him he found her to be more and less than he expected

More human almost familiar in a way

Less approachable as her casual demonstrations of mastery over Aether left him shocked and intimidated

But I know you I’ve been watching you You are happy yes But you must believe me we are after the same thing saving humanity from the catastrophe known as the System Is that not correct Is that not what you want

Randidly stirred but still said nothing looking at the creature in front of him She laughed lightly and began to walk towards him with extremely heavy steps that coincided with the ringing of the large bell that locked his Soul Skill away

Do you fear me

Randidly looked at her for a long moment and when he answered he ignored the creature’s most recent question Why me

Do you wish to be special This world will leave you quite disappointed The creature answered smiling I planted many seeds you are just the fastest to bloom What I needed was one who was not giving his meaning’ to the System One without a class or a connection to a village Your development was unexpected But it was a pleasant surprise

My meaning

The creature paused right in front of him She was only as tall as Randidly’s shoulder and had to look up at him with her wide blue eyes Like a frozen and poisoned sky Let me tell you a story There was once a being who discovered a magical hole in the world At first the being feared this hole but the being quickly recognized its power When the being pushed life through the hole meaning flowed back out And when the being supplied meaning the hole produced life

This being was satisfied at first but then his desire grew and grew so he began to use that hole to expand his power He gave his life to form enough meaning to create a System that would help him expand his influence It grew and grew and his hunger grew and grew and so the being began to split small pieces off of the magical hole in the world covering them with restrictions of meaning and planting them like seeds allowing his influence to grow But still the being sought more So more meaning was created and he began to use his seeds to syphon the life of the denizens of other worlds fueling his expansion even further

For this being was willing to do anything to find what he was looking for

Randidly frowned slowly parsing apart what the creature was saying What is this being looking for

The creature just smiled The bells around them continued to ring Randidly ground his teeth but then sighed changing his tack

Why are you telling me this

Again just a smile

What is the difference between life and meaning What are they What is life without meaning or meaning without life

Finally a response the creature laughed lightly a beautiful tinkling sound That is a very good question

Again the silence began to stretch Then Randidly asked That hole in the world it was an Aether Spring The first one

Technically no In your language it is an Aether Crossroads It could exchange both life and meaning producing both The Aether Spring is the later invention the seed given to villages It absorbs life from the people for power but only takes meaning from the central Aether Crossroads through a series of intermediaries

Trembling Randidly turned slowly and looked at the seemingly endless well of Aether inside of himself And he peered down until he saw that strange empty space that hole inside of him

So that thing in my chest is absorbing my life

The creature shook his head That’s the great surprise of you you have grown yourself your own primitive Crossroads that can absorb both life and meaning The system was designed to be split between two Aether Springs the Village and the Tribulation They were designed to absorb meaning from the Nexus which is what the great Aether Crossroads is referred to as But when one would fall to the other those extra restrictions would be purged and it would transform into a more easily absorbable form something without those restrictions A pure Aether Crossroads

Both Aether Springs included restrictions on how such things could be absorbed so that neither of them could cause this to happen What wasn’t expected Was that a person unrelated with either would have the strength to defeat the Tribulation who had somewhat fewer restrictions on the absorbable form left behind It would effectively establish itself as an independent existence within the system becoming a dungeon and losing its ability to absorb life from its subjects solely absorbing meaning from the Nexus after its success so the bindings were less complicated

After a few nudges Her eyes curved into half moons they were practically nonexistent

Chapter 203

Randidly’s breathing had risen and his mind was spinning There was too much to absorb This strange female seeming creature was feeding him a lot of information about Aether about himself hints about how he had come this far but he still had a question burning in his heart one that he had previously asked and she had refused to answer

Because we can help each other Like I said I’ve been waiting a long time for someone like you someone with a functional Aether Crossroads As you have no direct connection to the System although you have existed inside of it you can isolate yourself from it With your images and your Soul Skill you can create an independent world where everyone from Earth can live You can possess freedom a return to your previous existence

Frowning Randidly said nothing The creature just smiled and raised her hand touching Randidly’s cheek Her flesh was insubstantial but it burned him like fire where her fingers traced his cheekbones

Is returning to that life really so repulsive that you would deny the rest of your species that chance The chance to live without fear of death

And the price Why would you do this Randidly growled his eyes narrowing

Her hand dropped away I wish to avoid the being that has created the System Unfortunately any actions I take would be detected But if you hold the world inside of yourself fueling it with that Aether Crossroads it would be nestled in a coincidence that has slipped past the notice of the System Undetectable

The price Randidly repeated his temper rising

The creature was silent for a long time But as Randidly looked at her her eyes no its eyes seemed to grow larger and larger until there was a giant sea of interlocking Aether constructs monotonous and monstrous flowing in front of his very eyes

The hiding effect will only work if it’s your Aether but You would give me control

Randidly showed his teeth at the creature You would be the god of this hidden world

A very reclusive and inactive one The creature whispered her luminous eyes still locked on his But yes

Fuck you Randidly said his tone even and his delivery short But the creature simply smiled

You misunderstand so much my dearest Randidly This is a courtesy You will do this You have no choice I am already far too deeply invested inside of you for me to let go

Randidly gave her a long look but she simply continued to talk It is very simple You have a cycle and we will expand it The emerald crystals are the life energy released by the Aether Crossroads in exchange for your meaning and will serve as the core of the planet Your images will build a world on this base a powerful image of your world that will let your people live in peace It won’t be ideal but the system will run on your understanding of time with rot as your fall rain as your spring killing intent as your winter and ash as your summer If you focus hard enough

There’s something I’ve been wondering about Randidly drawled interrupting the creature’s explanation It had been almost exactly what he had been expecting that his Soul Skill would become a whole world It was just the fact this stranger wanted to rule it and was offering to give humanity passage to its relative safety that he wasn’t expecting

Before he directly acknowledge her rather straightforward threat Randidly wanted to verify a few things What is that strange little seed of power floating in my chest What will that be used for

As you say it is a seed The creature purred taking a step back and walking across Randidly’s soul space to the floating seed As she reached for it the bell chimed lightly and the lock fell away and the seed dropped into her waiting hands Her fingertips were light as she traced around the surface of it

you want to plant it in our world then How can you expect me to agree without telling me what it will grow into Randidly said slowly It is all well and good that you promise that humans will be free from the System and will no longer need to fight but what are you offering

Again you reach above yourself but I suppose there is no harm in telling you it is a weapon

A weapon It was strange because it was the first time that Randidly had encountered it but he instantly understood what was going on that creature had said a word and somehow infused it with Aether constructs

A weapon The end of life 1000 screams cut abruptly short A deep deep darkness beyond anything that Randidly could have ever imagined a deep silence and pressure that would kill him as sure as being at the bottom of the sea would Bone and ash and rot but not the vivid powerful forces that animated him but darker ancient and cold things that exist only as outlets for hatred and violence

A weapon Even when he pictured the word in his mind it seemed to writhe and twist resisting being tied down in certain ways It was more and less than he had ever encountered It was simply a weapon but it was so much more and even those letters twisted in his mind forming something strange and violent and vivid and bloody

A weapon

Randidly came back to himself breathing heavily Shaking he sat down hating the weakness but in that moment he abruptly felt it the difference between them Eons of time power and knowledge This creature he had known that it was indeed far beyond him but it was impossible to understand the breadth of that difference until you were brought face to face with it

The creature laughed softly but said nothing Randidly swore to himself that someday he too would hold that level of power For the moment however he simply got himself up and looked at the creature

I don’t trust you

It shrugged You are a small flower freshly bloomed and still far from being fully grown Is it any surprise that you do not trust a gardener That you do not understand the use of a spade I have guided you to this point why do you now lose your nerve

What you say seems impossible Randidly began slowly but she smoothly interjected

Did not all of what you have experienced since the System arrived seem impossible before

That’s not the point

The point is you don’t have a choice The creature said coolly

Randidly ground his teeth but said nothing He withdrew slightly considering It was foolish to talk overmuch with this strange thing to begin with especially when it had such power and was inside of his soul already It was practically coexisting with his thoughts

Her power was clearly beyond him perhaps even at the level to accomplish what she promised Creating a space where humanity could exist outside of the System hiding in plain sight Was that not something that he desired To be freed from the mandate of the system To not have the threat of monsters hanging over their head constantly For Donnyton to return to being a normal town with normal people and normal places

I hated it

Randidly’s hand tightened to fists and he bit his lip That unbidden thought that rose to the surface was true His life before he was a bland person sleepwalking more than living He was extremely socially awkward and was able to coast through life on societal expectations and imitation never filling his lungs with a true breath of fresh air And every second was as though he was living in a fog and he felt powerless and bitter Even his friends They were

Ace Sydney

Strangely in that moment their faces sprung to his consciousness clear and fresh Ace with his hair shaven kept short his body tall and comprised of lean muscle His eyes were grey and his easy smile was constant Sydney her eyeshadow thick and vivid short hair to her chin the roots dyed black the rest of the hair a vivid teal Never shocked never phased just looking at him with her unearthly yellow eyes

There would be no way of ever knowing for sure but Randidly felt that they had died in the aftermath of the System’s arrival Sure the System had forced him out of himself growing to feel like a real person but it had done so at the cost of death At the cost of Ace and Sydney

He would trade his growth for the presence of his friends wouldn’t he

And even if he didn’t it was on the scale of an entire population it wasn’t just his friends that he would be saving If it was possible he had a responsibility

Strangely Shal’s voice echoed in his head unbidden You are yet weak don’t overcomplicate things If you have spare time to think of extra things we perhaps need more training such as this ’

It had been said to him by Shal as he attempted to expand his Inevitable Phantom Arrives even further adding more power It had been a reminder that even the best and most talented spear user or the most common man can only be one thing at a time Steps were only a single foot’s length apart but they could eventually devour impossible distances

People had died sure but hiding now wouldn’t change anything It would simply be running away And based on what the creature had said there was a being even more monstrous at the center of the Nexus and hiding would just allow its influence to spread further If it ever found them if as Randidly expected this creature was one of the things the being was looking for

But really the unwillingness in Randidly’s chest came from two very simple facts He didn’t trust the creature and he didn’t negotiate with terrorists

He would refuse to deal with those who wouldn’t treat him with respect

Chapter 204

The creature looked at him with its luminous eyes slowly taking in his wide smile It seemed she had realized the conclusion that he had come to So you choose this path But as I have stated it is useless You are an accident I never expected did you really think that I would simply let you go

Sounds of ringing filled Randidly’s inward world and golden chains and locks fell from the sky covered in tiny tinkling bells Those chains swirled around and slowly settled down around Randidly’s different skills wrapping the tiny shapes of Aether in their chiming expanse As they did so Randidly felt a strange sense of weakness suffuse his body

His eyes widened and he gritted his teeth and thrust his hand forward towards one of the chains the image of his Inevitable Phantom Arrives imbued into the attack But when he hit the chain it simply curled around his arm the strength of his attack disappearing to nothing Although he attempted to leap backward pulling his arm away from the chains it was no use they followed him swiftly wrapping around his body

Opening his mouth to say something Randidly found that he couldn’t produce any words Strength fled from his body passing through the parts of him that were touching those chains They sucked and sucked and after his ability to speak his sense of smell left then his vision then sound then touch

He was in that pure endless darkness that he had seen when the creature had said the word Weapon

I cannot take control But I can break you take away all your strengths your connections to the outside world You need but simply acquiesce I’ve taken away your ability to do anything else after all Then I will use your Aether Crossroads to create a utopia for you humans Simply give in and you can escape that darkness Otherwise

Then the silence returned And stretched

Time Randidly reflected really did have two simultaneous existences The time you live with and the time that is objectively true But without both existence is impossible Knowing only the objective time sucks meaning from life making everything feel pointless The world was far too vast and broad objectively for the subjective to have meaning But knowing only your own subjective as Randidly did now robbed you of perspective

For now Randidly set aside the problems of this darkness the isolation the failure of any of his skills to activate the lack of ability to escape out of his inner world to his actual body and instead thought about a rather mundane question What is the difference between meaning and life

The creature referred to them as two independent things and sure they had different influences Meaning shaped the world Almost was the shape of the world Based on what the creature said Randidly suspected that meaning had something to do with images too It was why Aether from a village was harder to use Because it took life from the class people and dealt out its own meaning which was heavily influenced by the meaning fed to it by the Nexus

Still there seemed to be some processes to adjust that Specifically the Calamity The Spearman had powerfully altered the meaning of Shal’s world somehow resulting in Aether that only accepted images relating to the spear making any other weapon obsolete

Randidly shook his head or tried to so he mentally mentally shook his head Because not even his mental body was working for him That was interesting but not helpful to this line of questioning

On the other hand life was an animating force It allowed for change and growth It was movement But alone it too was pointless Life was just drive without existence Meaning was just invisible ink on a blank page without life They couldn’t be separated

Which was why Randidly suspected they were two processes that were the two sides of a coin just like time The village connection was the subjective one the meaning and life experience of an individual while the connection that the being maintained to the villages were the objective standard meaning and life And this was a process of keeping them purposefully separate and gathering power through the imbalance created by doing so

Randidly scratched his head That was definitely dangerous But he didn’t really know what it meant or what he could do about it It also seemed like those things would not be useful for his attempt to escape

With an inaudible groan Randidly sat up in the darkness His body was completely numb but somehow he knew that if he willed it he could move his body Just like the being that created the system this creature couldn’t actually take his inward Aether and control him All they could do is separate two parts of the whole and manipulate him based on his insufficient information

Which meant although he felt weak and that his skills weren’t activating Perhaps they were this whole time and he was only prevented from sensing it

Then he snorted Not that there was anyway to check And his logic was tenuous at best from a hypothesis about time to a hypothesis about an explanation given to him by his captor to a hypothesis about a whole monstrous system that was taking over his world to a hypothesis that his senses themselves couldn’t be trusted

It was too comical

But still Randidly focused his will which responded sluggishly swishing around inside of him Using that will he opened his mouth

If you are there help me

The silence and darkness pressed down on him For several minutes nothing happened And for the 15 or so minutes following that

Randidly sighed He briefly amused himself with the possibility that this creature WAS the Being that spread the System then set that to the side Why would a creature with such power take the time to fuck with him like this if it wasn’t being chased by something bigger and more scary

Although his body didn’t respond he held up his hand and reached towards the sky Well the upper part of the endless darkness around him But then he focused upwards and forgot where his arm was and he couldn’t really feel it so Randidly just froze extremely confused

Then he began to laugh

The only way for a spear is forward

It’s not so simple as that unfortunately Randidly said or at least thought he said with the wide and deep darkness humming quietly around him

Just acquiesce The darkness hummed Randidly snorted

I was planning on rejecting your proposal anyway but now that you are being a bitch I’ll burn it to the ground

You will have to get out first The darkness whispered and then the world went silent

Randidly chuckled again or tried to And then he straightened because he saw something floating through the darkness A group of somethings His mouth stretched into a smile 7 or so emerald wisps of energy zipped through the void to float before him spinning around him Just by their presence Randidly felt some small bit of his strength return Perhaps it wasn’t really some of his actual strength but their arrival lifted the isolation letting him breath a little easier

They came and spun around him and Randidly chuckled They had certainly been active since he had played with them last It seemed that now that there was a certain number of them they could interact with each other and grow without him which was both interesting and scary Unless he had simply lost his ability to count down here

Randidly shifted his body or attempted to but the physical feedback was still extremely slight and ambiguous so he couldn’t really know what he was doing But then the largest which was still a long and thin emerald streak swirled and settled down on his outstretched palm Sucking in his breath Randidly felt as though electric shocks were spreading out from the point that the wisp was touching him slowly reviving his body

Throwing his head back Randidly smiled at the sky The air was humming with the wisps as they rushed around him These were the refined form of life that he absorbed The creature had made it seem like a very sinister thing when she had said it But they were just alive They were simple creatures and it seemed there were still further secrets to these strange creatures but for now it was enough that they came to him in this dark isolated place

Although they weren’t people they had kindness and when he called they came That was more than enough And likely more than most people would do

This do you think this is enough If you refuse to accept your isolation I will have no choice but to punish you

Randidly snorted

The darkness around him was still for a long time Then he felt a strange chill come to the air and even the flesh the wisps touched began to return to numbness With great care Randidly leaned backwards and looked upwards A giant wheel slowly turned above like the steering wheel of an antique ship with rungs sticking out at even intervals

And as he watched it slowly began to descend towards him

Chapter 205

His legs were numb and useless at the moment it seemed that anything other than his eyesight and right arm didn’t exist He was trapped bobbing up and down in a sea of darkness So he frowned upward and prepared himself

Randidly would not flinch

The wheel continued to descend slowly spinning But a small distance above Randidly the wheel stopped descending simply floating there Now that it was closer he could see that the wheel itself was the size of a building a monstrous iron thing that could easily crush spirits and break bones if it continued down towards him

But as it began to spin something even more sinister and familiar began to happen As it spun speeding up at an even pace the air itself began to twist and hum with greater and greater intensity It was Agony That same skill that the Sphinx had used on him all that time ago The skill of a monster

Randidly hadn’t used it in quite some time mostly because he didn’t want to use it on people due to the mental anguish it could cause And also he didn’t want to become reliant on the opportunities it created for him in battle Better to focus on the spear currently time

It was somewhat nostalgic to feel that vicious burning twisting again It reminded Randidly of a time of confusion and rage in his past Tessa’s face sprung to the surface of his mind someone that Randidly hadn’t thought about in quite a while and he grimaced The fact that he had gotten so angry that he felt fine using Agony on her

Guilt clawed at his heart tugging on his resolve to remain here It hurt his pride and the fact that he was considering listening to this heartless creature drove him crazy but was it really so much trouble to consider her proposal for people like Tessa

She hadn’t adapted to the system like him She was forced to work at some sort of gentleman’s club in Franksburg in order to survive Her skills hadn’t grown she hadn’t found any unique paths she was just an attractive average girl The peace that Randidly could create would be for people like her

When he viewed the option in the general sense it didn’t carry that weight but when he remembered Tessa’s face twisted in Agony due to someone like him who became callous to the vicious power that he could control Randidly’s frown deepened as more and more jagged daggers of guilt tore at his resolve

The wheel above him began to spin faster and the pain increased

A small sizzling noise distracted Randidly forcing him to look down The wisps were still there but now they were twitching and wiggling Randidly’s eyes widened they felt this pain too

Those that help you will perish

And with a soft pop and a sigh one of the wisps the weakest and dimmest dispersed in a small expulsion of energy and disappeared Randidly’s gaze hardened

The long thin wisp wrapped itself around the smaller dimmer wisps protecting them by moving them together Instinctively Randidly reached for his Aether but found himself grasping at nothing Showing his teeth Randidly’s body began to hum as fury circulated through his veins He reached again harder smashing outward

But whatever was around him isolating him was soft and easily dispersed the force Growling Randidly forced his will into his left arm slowly bringing it forward doing his best to ignore the numbness Slowly as the wisps began to keen in terror Randidly brought his hands forward and wrapped them up with his fingers insulating them slightly to the vicious vibrations that tore through the air

Above him the wheel only turned faster producing an increased level of Agony

By now the skill was getting above the level of pain that Randidly could produce with his body But it was not above the level that he could withstand His Mental Fortitude had grown much in his adventures in the prison as his Battle Intent developed But the wisps

Randidly’s voice when he spoke was simultaneously hollow and gravelly as if his lungs were clogged and hadn’t been used in quite some time Flee You must flee I’m fine

In his hands the wisps vibrated in response He could feel their unwillingness He could feel their resolute loyalty Even after one of their own perished they remained here being slowly ground down by the Agony produced by the wheel

With another pop and sigh a wisp perished even with the protection of the larger wisp and Randidly’s hands His fingers tightened and Randidly tried to activate Rejection Eyes of the Spear Phantom Root Control Anything really to lash out against this strange creature that isolated him But the world remained dark

Flee if you don’t

Randidly began but to his surprise the wisps left his hands the 5 remaining ones shooting outward all of them bright and vivid He blinked Well he had said that but to have them accept and flee so suddenly

Randidly shook his head sardonically It was for the best He would find a way out of this and

But then he froze because after they fled away from him the wisps began floating in the air at certain points in front of him As he looked at them Randidly realized they formed a cross The largest and longest was in the center slowly circling in a small space The others were arrayed in four directions around the first flying in and out towards the central wisp as if tracing a line

What Randidly muttered Then his face paled as one of the wisps popped out of existence Then another Then another then another until there was only the long and thin one swirling in the center

Its brightness had been ground down so its long and thin body was dim and insubstantial like a trail of smoke Its movements grew sluggish This was the first one the one that originally split the one that had so brightly danced around his fingers in the past

Why Randidly said frantically pouring his will into his body He still couldn’t feel his body but he began to float forward through the darkness towards that last remaining emerald wisp Why aren’t you fleeing What are you trying to show me

The emerald wisp continued to circle beginning to shrink The wheel overhead sped up and the Agony crashed downward towards them But there was one benefit to the Agony the stronger it was the stronger Randidly’s control over his numb body became It cut through the isolation to hurt him and gave him space to move

Finally after a long minute Randidly reached the wisp Stretching out his hand he went to pick the wisp up With a satisfied sigh it popped disappearing But hanging in the air was a thought that was transmitted directly into Randidly’s brain with such clarity that it almost seemed like a thought that he had himself

You are not alone

The tone was one of joy and pride even if it was filled with nostalgia

Hanging in the spot where the last wisp had disappeared Randidly’s hand slowly curled into a fist He ground his teeth and a glowing light filled his eyes suppressing tears

The nerve of you to say something like that as you die Where does your confidence come from Why would you give for me to such an extent

But there was no answer The darkness continued to fill with Agony crashing against his will Randidly restrained a sob then focused his eyes furious Although the wisps had given themselves up he refused to believe that there was no meaning to their actions There was meaning to the location that Randidly now floated and also to the 4 lines that they had traced in the air All he had to do was find it

So Randidly closed his eyes and breathed slowly The crashing pain dug frantically at the edges of his consciousness demanding attention but his core slowly became increasingly tranquil Plus if his outside feedback was cut off there was no point in holding his eyes open The information there would be warped All he had left was hope and intuition

And the promise that he wasn’t alone But if the wisps died to say that was it still even true

Still hope wasn’t an answer but it was the scent of a path And strangely Randidly had no fears that the wisps had lied to him They were a pure creature a joyful one They were simple and bright while they were alive Thinking about it the anger in Randidly’s chest grew hotter and hotter and he bared his teeth in the darkness

This location the location of the largest of the wisps

His senses expanded but found nothing Shaking his head Randidly instead just sat withdrawing his focus He brushed away the pain of Agony even as it began to reach a level that would result in physical damage to his body Those things weren’t important now it wasn’t even clear that this was a body that could be damaged

He was submerged completely underwater surrounded by a thick deep pressure Endless possibilities swirled around him It was raw and pure and frigid and piping hot It was the energy of Aether and he was deep within the core of it sitting at the location of that deep well within himself Inside his chest the hole that was the source of it all sat at the same location of his heart and beat in time with his pulse

He then turned his focus outward in the 4 directions the other wisps had traced There was only darkness there darkness and the insidious grinding of the Agony

But Randidly had made it through the Challenge of Tarnak and he had learned much about his own ability to endure And he was patient So he waited And waited

His senses were cut off to him but still he waited confident Maybe he was just imagining it but now that he thought about it Randidly was very sure that he was right he was sitting in the core of his Aether Spring His Aether Crossroads that was hamstrung in a way that would give it no outlets for Aether but himself growing to become a dungeon

Along those paths he suddenly felt it Motes of light flowing slowly towards him Four different colors of lights

Chapter 206

In his imagination those lights floated slowly through these four paths towards Randidly There was a path of cool white lights of hot red lights of vivifying golden lights and reserved indigo lights They came in large waves floating in batches towards Randidly’s location In his imagination Randidly could see that the points of light floated into the hole in his Aether well sinking slowly into him

The hole pulsed and more Aether was produced and a portion of that flowed in drops in the opposite direction heading towards the producer of those lights

Time slowly passed The pain continued to intensify Randidly willed change but it felt like he was powerless He could only watch as the lights came in and the drops of Aether flowed in the other direction But one thing he did notice was that the more lights came the more Aether was produced and the more headed back down the connection

It was perhaps also just his imagination but Randidly believed that increasingly more lights were flowing back towards him It was a self reinforcing cycle that only grew stronger he believed

So instead of trying to activate skills Randidly’s focus narrowed until it was just on 4 drops of Aether And in a huge act of will he pushed

For a time nothing happened Then those four drops began to tremble and then flow outward heading towards the direction of these connections

Go please Randidly whispered

And strangely the Aether trembled again and began to speed up It felt as though Randidly was in a large cavern because he felt those words reverberate back to him hanging heavily in the air as the Aether around him began to swirl

Go lease

Randidly didn’t really need to breath with this body but it did a lot to help him resist the vicious grinding of the pain of Agony It had leveled off but it had leveled off far above his ability to withstand If he had to endure this with a physical body

But it was a mental one or at least he thought so so he was able to continually erect mental barriers to protect himself Endlessly he invented distractions and walls to buy himself time And he pushed at the Aether willing the process to accelerate In order to distract himself he named the connections based on his suspicions

Annie The cool white motes of light seemed to tremble and a dull vibration began at the edges of his perception

Sam The bright and warm golden lights dutifully trotted forward towards his position flowing in the hole that Randidly imagined in his chest Aether poured out and swirled the speed growing faster and faster The vibration became a tremble and Randidly thought he heard a soft echo of Sam in the darkness

Mrs Hamilton These were the reserved indigo lights coming slowly down towards his position They were in no hurry and had no one to impress They were confident in themselves and slightly mysterious The longer that Randidly looked at these lights the harder it became for him to determine what color they were His initial impression was indigo but then he saw flashes of forest green and sometimes they gave off a decidedly grey and brown coloration It was the color of camouflage and of darkness

The vibration was a voice and it sounded like someone yawning waking after a long rest

ss Hamilton

Randidly nodded then turned to the last flowing river of lights Alana

These were hot and red steadfastly rushing towards the hole in Randidly’s chest They believed he knew instinctively far more than any of the others that this connection was something special and powerful That it was a unique and powerful skill and a blessing that he had given them

Alana

This time the echo was so clear that Randidly opened his eyes in surprise It sounded like someone was whispering in his ear He began to fear that it was the creature that was speaking to him but Randidly couldn’t figure out why it would do something like this The one problem however was that opening his eyes made him lose the carefully constructed image about the lights and Aether and once more darkness crashed down around him

Pain smashed against him threatening to knock him unconscious But Randidly refused to let that happen Instead he closed his eyes and focused once more searching for that inner peace

It was hard to let go of the irony of opening his eyes and being flooded with darkness but sometimes that was life Especially when it was his life Randidly dubiously wondered whether anyone but him had such ridiculous things happen to him

What ended up being the most useful for recovering that meditative state was his rage It was vicious and hungry and wanted to claw and break everything the creature had planned He would do so even if he had to completely destroy his inner world to do so Hopefully however that would be unnecessary

As he was settling down he felt a slight tingling through his body Almost as if some of his feeling was returning But he tried to ignore that sensation because all it really did was enable him to feel the power of Agony more directly

After more time passed he suddenly felt something click and he was back deep within his Aether Well where all the Aether he had produced was pooling But now the flows in it had become more noticeable and a very noticeable increase in colored lights were flowing towards Randidly in the darkness

It was perhaps only 1 more mote of light for 5 But it was an improvement The Aether around him continued to hum and the tingling in his body grew stronger His will expanded and pressed motivating more and more drops of Aether to move flowing outward towards those connections to his four blessed individuals

But the Aether seemed reluctant He could almost hear the thrumming question why in their resistance

You must give to others Randidly whispered surprised how difficult moving his mouth still was Sentences were miserable even more so now than it had been when he had been struggling directly against his social anxiety

Why

Because if you give to others God fucking damnit his mouth was a shapeless wet paper bag controlled with chopsticks Others give back

Me

Randidly’s eyebrows twitched There was definitely a voice Was this really the creature fucking with him He had started to assume that when the wisps told him he wasn’t alone they had meant themselves or more recently he had thought the wisps referred to his connections to the people he had blessed where something was currently happening with Aether

But was it possible that something else was at play here Holy shit his inner world was a fucking tourist destination

Well us

Us

Yea both of us

Us

But this time the strange vibration seemed satisfied and the Aether began to flow easily It was still extremely heavy as Randidly pressed his will as best as he could on the imaginary world But somehow he felt infinitely more connected to the Aether than he had in the past He felt the hole shifting slowly rising and setting itself directly inside of his chest no longer simply matching the beating of his heart It WAS the beat of his heart They became one and the same

A pain much worse than Agony spiked through Randidly and he felt like his body eyes mind and soul were dipped in fiery jagged knives and they were pulled rapidly through a passageway of broken glass Everything was miserable and the pain was so great and sudden that his breath wouldn’t come There was only the strange icy fire consuming

Then it was gone and Randidly breathed heavily shivering

The voice truly sounded bright now but Randidly could only shake his head Still feeling was now flooding back through his limbs With that feeling he simply pressed harder motivating more drops of Aether But it seemed like there was a limit to how much he could give at once

There was a strange elasticity on the pathway that led to his connected people and more and more drops of Aether went to press up against it Randidly added more pressing harder but still nothing happened He was beginning to sweat what would happen if he could not add more when there was a pop from one of the connections

Alana’s had expanded was the only word and more Aether began to flow not only on the magnitude of drops but now a small stream a few fingers wide The Aether greedily rushed towards it flowing down towards her After a short amount of time a greatly increased amount of red lights floated back heading towards Randidly’s chest

The connection to Mrs Hamilton popped then and a thin stream of Aether flowed outwards towards her Then Annie’s popped and hers accepted more and more Aether more than either of the other two almost twice as much And the amount of white lights the floated back was commensurately thick

Finally Sam’s connection popped and suddenly the amount of lights that Randidly was absorbing grew by a magnitude of 10 counting all of the changes His body was buzzing slowly coming alive and he felt himself resonating with the strange vibrations of the Aether flows There was something here something growing Whereas the Aether had previously been stagnant now it began to flow

And slowly things were changing Randidly opened his eyes his mental eyes only to find that although it was dim he was once more floating in his inward world surrounded by his skills the energies for his Soul Skill and of course the creature

She folded her arms

Chapter 207

Does this change anything If it’s a matter of power you barely have enough for a single skill At any point I could crush your resistance You think this changes anything

Randidly didn’t answer savoring the feeling of absorbing power from his connections to his four blessed individuals As his perception continued to expand Randidly found the two connections he had Thorn and Arbor and began a similar process slowly pushing Aether towards them and having the red and green motes of light that floated back flow into the hole that now was fixed as his heart It was oddly touching the christmas themed lights from his plants but Randidly was most shocked to discover that he could absorb from them the same as the other connection

He had assumed that what he was absorbing was life and meaning both sides of the same thing So it made sense that he could absorb them from the people But his plants were also providing both for him He would need to experiment more with the Soul Seed Skill something that he had let lay fallow for far too long

Randidly also had concerns that he was taking something vital from them and that pressing against their connections until they popped had accelerated that process to the point that it was dangerous But there was a strange certainty in his heart that this wasn’t the case Healthy wasn’t the term but perhaps he could be confident it was natural if symbiotic

That worried him too but in a similar way Randidly couldn’t give credence to that worry After all even if the Creature was that strange vibrational voice something had happened some forces had pushed them together and now that vibrational voice spread out from his chest filling the air They were part of each other

The Creature however was another entity entirely

It seemed annoyed that Randidly was ignoring it so it raised its hand and pointed Golden chains rushed forward again and Randidly sighed inwardly The creature was right he probably only had enough will to muster a single skill Most of his Aether and strength were sealed off he was just running off the byproduct energy from refining things from his connections In Randidly’s mind it would have much better to allow some more time to pass allowing to increase his stores before he began this

But there was no other choice

Inspiration I REJECT

Randidly’s inner world trembled and then a huge explosion spread outward smashing back the chains knocking the bells and locks off of the different parts of his inner world smashing into the creature It squawked in an extremely surprised manner and was thrown back A huge bubble slowly inflated starting from Randidly’s chest

Knocking the creature back did have one positive effect however He once more felt a connection to his physical body and felt that he could return to it should he need to But Randidly couldn’t really use much of his strength as all of his mana and a good portion of his Stamina drained in order to fuel the Inspired Rejection At some point the bubble stopped inflating and the creature looked at Randidly from a distance away its eyes burning furiously

Then it raised its hand and tapped a finger on the bubble

The force of the collision knocked Randidly on his ass and he struggled back up gasping for breath He was much more prepared the second time the creature knocked on the glass but still he paled Because a thin crack formed on the bubble

This fucker Inspiration had basically solved all of his problems in the past And now the creature was going to overcome it so easily It was truly a monster far far above his level of strength

As it went to tap for a third time Randidly spun around and rushed away heading deeper into his inner world He didn’t have time to waste First he appeared inside his visualization of his Soul Skill as those pulsating Emerald crystals continued to sit This was the refined version of the energy he was using now Randidly surmised and he needed those wisps to do what he wanted

His would not be a perfect world for humanity to be transplanted to hiding from the system but Randidly couldn’t deny that a whole world would be extremely powerful as a Soul Skill But he had his own ideas

He immediately tried to use Extract but as it required Mana the skill failed For a second Randidly was at a loss but then his heart the Aether Crossroads vibrated slightly and Randidly blinked

Feeling slightly foolish and slightly hopeful and slightly dumb Randidly said Guys I need your help Come on out

His chest twinged painfully Randidly rolled his eyes We need your help

For a while the words hung in the air and nothing happened Then the crystals began to tremble Of their own accord dim wisps floated upwards curious and wondering They came out by the dozens then by the hundreds then by the thousands Then they saw each other and Randidly and began to swirl excitedly dancing and spinning a strange combination of fireflies and emerald meteor showers in the air around him

Randidly breathed slowly barely containing his excitement Leaving the newly freed wisps Randidly teleported to another part of his Soul even as another finger touch made his own being shake The crack in the bubble expanded

Gritting his teeth he activated the Spear Advances Ash Trails after all of this time channeling all of his understandings about physical acceleration the spirit of a spear and the power of his own body to gain 5 Skill Levels immediately He pierced forward his finger the tip of his spear smashing into the small seed that the creature left floating there now exposed It had stated it was to grow into a weapon and Randidly was not going to let something that dangerous sounding just float around his insides

As he pierced through it with his finger his perception warped and he found himself in a huge sphere The outward shell was thin but inside there was a vast series of interlocking connections of swirling Aether This was Engraving but far far beyond his level Far far beyond the level of even the Path that had led him to here The level of detail and intricacy was unbelievable Randidly had a hard time believing that anyone but a god could have created this strange construct

In that moment as the bubble trembled again Randidly realized that this couldn’t have been created when the path came into being Although the creature was clearly responsible this was of a level that Randidly expected even it would struggle This had taken time More time than he could fathom He could see it just by watching the construct of Aether He somehow knew that it would take decades for the Aether to flow along the complete path of this strange rune

So this is her big weapon

Weapon

A dangerous thing But necessary sometimes

Necessary

Yea Because it’s going to fuel our world

Our world

This was still his soul space even though it was created by the creature so when Randidly reached out and pressed with his will the construct trembled Then Randidly pressed harder and it began to warp and twist Even though it was a great weapon and Randidly wanted to destroy it the beautiful and obvious craftsmanship of the thing made him to aim much more to rip it into 1000 small pieces rather than smashing it Their was a potency to it that he didn’t want to lose even in his anger

He was very aware of the danger of allowing it to remain when he didn’t understand it but he didn’t have much time and had even fewer options So he ripped and ripped and ripped his existence blurring as his will cut the thing to pieces

Another blow landed on the bubble and Randidly sensed that a huge chunk was beginning to give way So he gritted his teeth and waved his hand and he left seed dragging the pieces of the weapon rune after him As an afterthought he shattered the casing of the seed into quite a few pieces as well and gathered them

His mind was beginning to ache from the effort of controlling so many objects even in his Soul Space but he ignored the pressure and continued He returned to his Soul skill grabbing the chilling killing intent and the refreshing rain energy

There the wisps were already interacting and growing in their strange manner the light of their existence growing brighter Based on the veritable sea of them it seemed that some had already split When there was this much of them they could split endlessly They would grow until they couldn’t any longer That was what life was in peacetime And the wisps had very few of the brakes that normal flesh beings had and could multiply endlessly They were pure life and they sought meaning

They sought a body

But Randidly only had a few scant seconds not enough to examine them any closer because he had a lot of work to do in a very short amount of time

Chapter 208

Randidly raised his hands like a conductor How did one construct a world

One piece at a time he supposed The first action he did was construct the core The creature was right about one thing his knowledge of time was a useful base But he didn’t want to rely on just the objective face of time but also the subjective one He wanted to created an interactive system of time that would function through the core

With a pounding headache Randidly’s hands began to move The empty and cold emerald crystals vacated by the wisps were his first medium as he began to shape and work with them turning them into wheels cogs clockwork pressing them together into a huge complicated pattern They were empty vessels used to holding life so Randidly took a fragment of the creature’s great weapon and put them into each one sliding into their emptiness filling and animating the crystals with a cool illumination

They once more glowed with power but it was an unnerving unwavering black light they produced filled with destructive energy Faster and faster Randidly moved bound only by the limits of his will Perhaps in real life such a thing would be impossible but here in his Soulscape constructing his new Soul Skill it was possible to move these things with just his will

Luckily the amount of empty crystals was huge so Randidly had all the materials he needed to work with in order to create a large construct designed to release energy and radiation upwards in the form of Aether The fuel for machine was the core of the weapon a large rune that looked like a hand halfway between being open and being clenched into a fist The fingers curled with obvious power and a perfection of construction that left him speechless Even with the fact he was in absolute control here in his soul he could not break this core of the construct

But he could harness its ambient energy fueling his world’s clockwork core He was inexperienced in the grand scheme of things but his familiarity with clockwork mastery due to his few experiments was enough In addition here in his soul anything was possible He just added more and more complexity trusting to his intuition even when his senses were at a loss

When he slid the last cog into place the whole thing trembled then began to hum as the wheels slowly began to turn The black light produced by the core grew brighter in so much that it shifted towards the color spectrum of grey a strange pure energy flowing upwards

Randidly abruptly returned to himself and found himself sweating That had felt like it had taken him a lifetime but as his subjective time snapped back to the objective it seemed it had only taken him a few seconds But still another strike from the creature was imminent

With a wave of his hand Randidly gathered the shattered shell of the weapon seed and slowly lowered it towards the core surrounding it The hole he made was large too large to completely eradicate so Randidly hesitated Then he manipulated the crust of his new world stretching and separating it so there wasn’t just one big hole but 8 small holes and then innumerable holes that were extremely tiny From these holes that grey power gushed upwards

The he reached for the cold murderous energy the energy of rain and towards his soul skill The wisps swirled excitedly

Warning Your actions will deconstruct your current Soul Skill If another one isn’t created shortly with a similar or greater level of power some of the benefits you have gained will decay Proceed with caution

Eyes burning Randidly ignored the message He knew in a way that what he was doing was foolish The system at least partially was a way of absorbing meaning shaping your own Aether in a way that was proven to give power But he had left that path After meeting the creature after seeing this world

He needed a power that was enough to shake the system

As if on cue Randidly’s mentalscape shook hit once more by the finger of the creature and a loud crash revealed that this blow had finally shattered his remaining defenses or at least most of them The sinister power of the creature came creeping back but it was far too late

Randidly pressed and cut splitting all four murderous cold cool rain pulsing rot and burning ash each into 2 pieces and flattened each of those 8 split bits of energy into a membrane These membranes were lowered onto the 8 main holes on the crust At first the grey energy resisted it building up behind the membrane but then the pressure grew to the point that it was enough and it burst through throwing up this elementally aligned energy into the sky and the world dying the slowly growing world different colors

Around the murderous cold membranes chilly wastelands began to form The Rain membranes created seas which spawn rivers and streams that flowed outwards into other territories The Rot membrane created vast swamps with forests and plains growing around the edge The Ash energy cause volcanoes to form making mountain ranges and lava plumes

Randidly beckoned at the growing number of wisps Now it’s your guys turn

Them

Come here children Let me make you more

More MORE

The wisps swirled down towards Randidly excitedly a huge storm with him at their center But before he touched them he pulled on his connections to his four blessed individuals He needed power but more than power he needed their meaning

It came to him first in spurts then it a crashing rush four strange rivers of meaning and those rivers flowed upwards through the wisps grabbing them and dragging them away throwing them on the crust that Randidly had assembled

The ones swept up in the meaning from Annie were deposited on the world as a strange creature that resembled a centaur except with a four legged insect as a body rather than a horse Their legs were dangerously sharp and their arms were long and willowy Their heads were slightly insect like too flat and with strange eyes There were not many of these but they grouped together and began to explore the world around them

Sam’s meaning made a small hardy people similar to dwarves or gnomes There arms were thick and powerful and their fingers were long and dextrous They immediately stumbled out of their stream of energy and looked around and began to build and dig

Alana’s people were almost golem like thick strong people that seemed to be formed of rock and clay They immediately began fighting each other as they were created and split into factions

Mrs Hamiton’s people were the most numerous and the most secretive They were spiders but slimey spiders that appeared to be aquatic although they could survive on land for amounts of time They crept into the oceans and rivers and swamps slowly building kingdoms underneath the water

As all of the wisps were consumed and transformed into different forms of life for his Soul Skill Randidly felt a twinge of regret already They had certainly lost something those wisps as he changed them They had lost their innocence their ability to freely live and split without any worries Now there would be strife among them be war But they now also had meaning

Their life had been bound but now they had bodies Hopefully that was enough compensation

There was another tremble and another huge noise and Randidly knew that the rejection bubble had been completely destroyed by the creature and that it was rushing towards him But he couldn’t look away from this exceedingly intricate world he had created Spreading his hands he let images from his skills fall to the world populating it with unique things transforming a small area around where they landed Plants grew more common everywhere as he created a giant image of his Root Control and pressed

He couldn’t use the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil but he could will that image into the world and roots slowly grew down from the crust thickening it and binding the energy producing core to the world These would hopefully continue to grow and evolve as the clockwork continued to move

Then Randidly relaxed

A new Soul Skill has been created Would you like to assimilate this Soul Skill Warning if you have insufficient fuel or your body lacks the requisite strength there may be negative consequences

YOU The Creature howled as it rushed towards his back but Randidly simply smiled

Yes let’s do it

There was a strange spark in his inner world as everything became so bright that everything became insubstantial The light was of such a magnitude that it eliminated matter and just left itself and Randidly’s flimsy understanding of existence Soon that too was knocked away leaving him free Simultaneously a wave smashed outwards a powerful wave as something shifted

The wave passed Randidly like a warm familiar hand formed of Aether It was extremely gentle and welcoming and tousled his hair But as it rushed further past him it turned into a gale that smashed the creature even as it continued to howl and form shapes of Aether Unfortunately the light even made the Creature’s Aether irrelevant

For a moment Randidly was in awe of the power of the thing he created but then he realized that wasn’t quite right It wasn’t that his Soul Skill was all powerful but simply that the assimilation of the Soul Skill was a process somehow condoned and aided by the system This light was the system acting eliminating interference as the process started

Which chilled Randidly even further Because the creature was so far beyond his current level and yet it was so casually pushed back by a normal process of the system Although the creature might be holding back some of its strength rather than clash directly against the system so as not to alert the being that started this all it was still unable to get around it

But then the light brightened further and Randidly couldn’t stand it any longer and was forced out of his own inner world abruptly waking up in his own body breathing heavily

Then his chest began to burn and it wasn’t the icy hot burn of Aether or the ripping tearing feeling he had experienced as he grew too powerful with his Soul Skill but something else entirely

It was the feeling of release somehow but also of danger His hastily assembled world sunk into his heart aligning with his physical heart and now also with the hole in his chest that was the core of his Aether Crossroads

His body began to tremble first only slightly then violently

Chapter 209

The trembling swiftly became spasms and Randidly was rolling on the floor of his dark room his mouth twisted in a grimace So much for resting before the second half of the preliminary

Examining Soul Skill Adjusting search parameters Expanding search scope

Warning Examination failed Contacting the user’s Village Spirit

Warning No village spirit detected System guidance insufficient Recalculating

Randidly was starting to grow annoyed at these messages Yes what he was doing was extremely strange but that didn’t mean that the System had to make him sit here waiting for a response every fucking time he attempted anything If it would just get its shit together and do a proper search what he did couldn’t be THAT crazy right

Warning No alternatives could be located System guidance is impossible Continue with assimilation anyway We recommend you proceed to the nearest village

Randidly ignored the rest of the message and clicked yes

The trembling increased and he could feel in his chest as the tiny world brimming with life he had assembled shook And then the clockwork core began to spin and the energy it produced began to change and shift He felt the cool rain energy the murderous cold the ash and the rot spinning and twining

It was flowing slowly those energies like mercury running through his veins as the world began to turn The creatures came alive and began to move and interact They were still very primitive but cultures began to form through their interactions

Assimilation success Calculating effects

Congratulations Your Soul Skill Cycle of Rot and Ash has been upgraded to the Soul Skill Four Shaded Clockwork World All benefits obtained through the previous Soul Skill have been retained Soul Skill level has been reset to 1

Congratulations Due to your Soul Skill Four Shaded Clockwork World you have gained the skills Hammer of the Dawn Lvl 1 and Burning Footsteps Lvl 1 Your Skill Phantom Half Step has been upgraded to The White Phantom’s Half Step (Un) Your Skill Edge of Decay has been upgraded to Flesh Eating Virus (Un)

Hammer of the Dawn Empower your strike with the light of the dawn striking from the sky with great force Costs 250 mana Size of hammer and damage improves with skill level and Intelligence Area of Effect improves with Wisdom

Burning Footsteps Leave of trail of burning footsteps in your wake causing mild damage to those who pass over the affected area Mildly increases speed Damage Boost and speed boost increase with Skill Level

Randidly’s eyes widened as he looked at his new skills Then he looked at his upgraded skills Basically the White Phantom’s Half Step cost a sliver more stamina but was much quicker to activate and subsequent activations within a short period of time would cost a sliver less than its current cost So its utility increased and it became more realistic to use it a lot in quick succession

The Flesh Eating Virus was very similar to Edge of Decay but it was faster acting and it would cause a larger amount of damage if left untreated The two new skills looked especially interesting but that would have to wait until he had mana once more to use them as both were spells

His chest was still burning as the strange energies from the Soul Skill circulated through him but Randidly slowly sat up All in all he felt fine It seemed that the assimilation had gone well enough that there would be no problems for now

What was perhaps most disturbing was that there was no sign of the creature Randidly turned his attention inward examining his inner space but it had returned to normal with no golden chains or bells Had it fled Or perhaps given up now that it’s strange weapon had become part of his soul skill Or

Randidly’s face tightened because he knew that there was a possibility that he didn’t want to think about Sure he had ignored the creature’s plan and dismantled the weapon but that might have been exactly what it had wanted him to do Although he had shattered the outer portions they were still a part of his Soul Skill and he hadn’t been able to do anything to the core of that weapon at all He could only harness its vast energy to fuel his strange new world

He had also hoped that taking those wisps freeing them and populating his world with them was a nice departure from creating an empty world that could be used to hide but how could anything the creature said really be believed

But his Soul was silent so Randidly could only shrug for now and attempt to not think about that possibility He still spoke a little in his soulscape trying to get that strange vibration thing that had spoken to him earlier but he received no response So he threw up his hands and returned to himself

Back in his body he stood and stretched He took great care to test every muscle in his body seeing whether there were any aftereffects both from the earlier struggle with the creature or due to the assimilation of his Soul Skill But there seemed to be no ill effects

Rather than make him feel better Randidly’s heart sank If there had been some problem he could actually believe that he had pulled one over on the creature but without that proof Was he really just a pawn dancing in its hand

You are yet weak don’t overcomplicate things If you have spare time to think of extra things we perhaps need more training such as this

Again Shal’s voice echoed in his mind as Randidly struggled to find his direction and he chuckled As always he was a spear Only forward Briefly he wondered what Shal was doing at the moment but then he dismissed those thoughts as well Shal had a role and it was over Extra instruction wouldn’t be helpful right now It was all dependant on Randidly’s effort

Although it was slightly insulting that he hadn’t been here to witness it

So Randidly turned his attention back to his notifications because he had gotten a few In addition the 5 Skill Levels in the Spear Advances Ash Trails Randidly had also gained 3 levels in Rejections 8 in Clockwork Mastery and 2 in Mental Fortitude Which put his total PP still at an impressive 81

Randidly grinned This was good because having that much PP all at once would likely allow him to see the different benefits from his Soul Skill So Randidly brought up his Path menu

Heretic XI 0/ Initiate of Ash I 0/75 Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 0/50 Path of Control 0/200 Basic Mana Engraving 0/100 Journeyman 0/150 Experimenter I 0/50 Agony I 0/100 Tireless 0/50 Aether Philanthropist 0/1

You fucking bitch Randidly whispered There were quite a few new arrivals to his possible paths But the one that struck him most obviously was Aether Philanthropist which required a measly 1 PP

Was this normal But somehow just the wording of it made Randidly sure that it wasn’t and it was another path left for him by the Creature But then threads of doubt crept it Last time it had to strain for so long in his chest to create a path Was that just a front or was it legitimately difficult to do

And if it was so good at predicting how he would move so that it led him to here wouldn’t it know that he would be extremely reluctant to accept anything that he thought was control and so he would reject it Was it perhaps the point that he not choose that path

Or was there a way through the System to donate Aether and this was a natural evolution of that action

Then Randidly shook his head He was like a spear he could only move forward Better to ignore the possible motivations and focus on the concrete facts it was a 1 PP path He would be foolish to not use 1 PP to at least figure out what was going on with it So although his finger floated in front of the button for several seconds torn between the options Randidly eventually pressed the add the PP button

Chapter 210

Congratulations You have completed the Aether Philanthropist Path Your path begins to vere through the paths of others and some of those you cross paths with are vastly improved by your touch Your familiarity and experience grows in the manipulation of Aether Your understanding of Aether greatly increased You have learned the skill Aether Connection Lvl 1

Randidly breathed slowly not really sure what to make of this Not only the result but also the rarity So he opened up the skill explanation for the skill

Aether Connection Create a connection of Aether with another being As the creator of the connection you will have more control over the amount and quality of the Aether sent Effectiveness of the connection will depend on the willingness of the recipient and the synchronicity between two individuals Individuals can reject the connection Efficacy of connection and possible size of the connection improves with skill level

Randidly’s face was solemn because based on what he understood his Aether Spring was a hobbled Aether Crossroads that had no ways of making connections with others like the Aether Spring that a village spirit was given On the other hand it didn’t have a formal connection to the System so he didn’t need to accept meaning that flowed downwards from it

But this skill basically eliminated that weakness by giving him a System approved way to establish an Aether connection There would likely be some drawbacks depending on his skill level but

It was a skill that made him into an Aether Crossroads legitimately

Is this then what the creature intended Because it was hard to imagine that the Being who created the System would have done it in order to effectuate his search Randidly would assume that other full power Aether Crossroads running around would just make things more difficult

But it was too far beyond his level to even speculate Instead Randidly turned back to his possible paths All of the new ones looked interesting Experimenter was slightly ambiguous but Tireless based on his recent actions seemed pretty clear But the former would lead to a longer series of paths which Randidly wasn’t sure he wanted to commit to

Randidly had a growing interest in finishing off the Initiate of Ash path but he decided to wait on that Similarly The Path of Control and Agony I paths were a little big of a commitment As he wouldn’t be able to use his mana for this second part of the preliminary it would be better for him to double down on his Endurance and finish the Tireless path in one fell swoop

After that Randidly thought he would probably begin on the Initiate of Ash path but he might change his mind depending on what happened Randidly put points into the Tireless path But the more he put into it the more his face fell He did receive 1 End every 10 PP but that wasn’t what he was waiting for It was only on the 48th PP that the event he waited on finally occurred

Congratulations Your Soul Skill has released the Blessing of Rain upon you Wisdom +3 Focus +6 Concentration permanently increases by 1% Mana Regeneration increases by 15 +3 Free stats

Randidly released a breath that he had been holding It did take much much longer than it had previously fully 50 PP but overall the reward grew as well Not linearly a little less than that but it was still a powerful boost Especially the jump in Mana Regeneration As for the 3 Stats they went into Strength Perhaps Randidly hadn’t lost his bitterness about the harshness of the previous portion of the preliminary after all

After nodding in satisfaction Randidly put the last two points into the Tireless Path completing it

Congratulations You have completed the Tireless Path The path is long but you stoically continue Obstacles become par for the course There is no hesitation in your movements As your base level rises to this new plateau of difficulty you sense your very body changing This is not yet your limit Vitality Reaction and Willpower +5 You have learned the skill Stalemate Breaker Lvl 1

Stalemate Breaker Must first clash against an enemy and be somewhat equal in strength Increase your consumption of Stamina by 10x for one second to increase your physical output by 1% Effect on output increases with Skill Level

It was truly a powerful skill but the cost and the small bonus made it extremely unattractive now He would effectively exhaust himself using the skill Increasing the stamina consumption by a factor of 10 was ridiculously debilitative But Randidly supposed that was part of the point It wasn’t designed for every situation but as a skill that could be used only to break a stalemate And decisively at that

If however he didn’t finish the fight in that time even his monstrous recovery probably wouldn’t be enough to make back up the difference in Stamina And the fact that the active time was only a second

Well if he simply pushed forward during that time it wouldn’t expend too much mana

Basically it was a skill that was not useful currently when the output was only a 1% increase Raising the skill to 20% would make it much more interesting Then 50 or even 100 it would suddenly become a monstrously powerful skill Which was why Randidly supposed that the cost increase was so high Because it was a skill that could be improved almost endlessly

Already exhausted by the type of training that would be required to increase that skill Randidly shook his head Then he opened his Paths back up and put the remaining 30 points into Initiate of Ash Unfortunately there were no 10 point bonuses so his 30 PP sank into the Path without any noticeable change And also still a bit less than 20 short of when he would get another bonus from his Soul Skill

Randidly walked to the window It was almost dawn and he would have some time after that to return to the testing arena He briefly considered studying Engraving some more but although the Belt would make that much easier Randidly wasn’t really in the mood

So he left his room and walked upstairs towards the training area Unsurprisingly there were people in this world that were there at dawn seeking perfection in the spear A large man wielding a spear that looked to Randidly to be more similar to a lamp post than a weapon and there was also the aged instructor and his youthful charges that Randidly had seen previously

Ignoring them Randidly removed his large obsidian spear from his inventory and walked over to a corner There was a lot that Randidly had gained from the previous night in terms of skills and knowledge Perhaps there would be another time when he stopped and tried to categorize it all but for now he was more concerned with just moving

He performed the different movements given to him by the Turtle man long ago that became the foundation of the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil Randidly moved through his different practice forms for the Spear Phantom Style His movements became quicker and quicker more violent and fierce the longer he practiced

There was still a spark in his chest remaining from the Challenge of Tarnak the feeling of being stifled and forced to sit still and endure But that spark quickly fell on the tinder of all of Randidly’s frustrations and suspicions in regards to the creature Now he was abandoned with far more questions than he had begun with How much was true How much was false How much of this did the creature plan

As Randidly’s speed increased he didn’t notice that the large man had noticed him and had ceased in his own training to stare at him The old man with his children were staring slack jawed All that Randidly could sense was his own anger and increasingly the pumping power of Aether flowing through his body

It was definitely far more active now than it had ever been in the past The flows out to his four blessed individuals increased the speed that it could be moved and even more than that it seemed far more responsive to his will

So Randidly began to throw out Phantom Onslaughts absolutely pouring himself into the furious barrage of blows Again and again he threw more and more and more the air around him humming with the swift passage of his large spear in such a short amount of time There was no target just an outlet to his frustrations

Time stretched on and the disbelief in the large man’s eyes grew more profound as this spear user with the obsidian spear in front of him seemed to have limitless stamina and willpower The large man’s hands tightened around his own weapon and he turned away his shoulders squared Truly that was the path of a spear user and he didn’t have time to gawk like this

The old man and the kids didn’t have the same competitive instincts and continued to stare mesmerized by the movements It was only after 7 or so minutes of that that Randidly finally ran out of Stamina and was forced to stop lowering his shoulders his chest heaving

In a way he felt better but in another way he didn’t It was so much effort for nothing

Well not nothing ’ Randidly thought noticing he had gained 2 Skill Levels in Phantom Onslaught and 1 in Secondwind But it wasn’t the feedback that Randidly had wanted to receive He wanted an answer a satisfying direction He wanted

Hmph so you have time to be lazy do you disciple I suppose you are satisfied that you survived through the first round of the preliminaries eh

Randidly slowly straightened and turned Standing there hands on his hips was Shal And judging by his expression he had been watching him for quite some time and wasn’t very impressed by what he had seen

Randidly’s mouth twitched but he said nothing in response but simply lowered his spear in Shal’s direction aiming the huge obsidian weapon towards Shal’s heart A small smile flickered to life on Shal’s lips

Perhaps you are learning after all Come

Chapter 211

The strange existence that had interfered with Randidly’s Paths and Skill as he referred to it the Creature smiled as it looked down into the reflecting pool that displayed the battle between master and disciple But her eyes peered more deeply that the truly insignificant skills that both of them used

Fascinating to think that he would transform my masterwork into a simple powerplant The Creature muttered its fingers stretching lengthening until they were just short of touching the surface of the pool But at the last minute it hesitated

Another voice interrupted its thoughts Are you afraid

A woman a human woman hung at the other end of the small room opposite the Creature Her hands were bound by an iron chain off the ceiling which was just so long that her tiptoes could touch the ground as she was stretched out by her hand binding She had dirty blonde hair to her shoulders and violet eyes

Not as afraid as you are dear Lyra I can see it in your heart I can smell it in your sweat Yet you remain so calm Why

Lyra chuckled and the chains rattled But the laughter swiftly turned into coughs and her body shimmered and bulged as she stretched her shape into a taller creature But as she did so the chains began to glow with strange runes and bolts of electricity shot down making Lyra shudder Her form shifted back into her human body which was still just a little too short to stand with her hands bound in chains in that manner

The Creature just shook its head turning back to the image of Randidly He chose life again Perhaps I should have suspected this when he chose to transform his rot into the path of life earlier but it still puzzles me His strength could be so much higher if he would embrace the aspects of himself that have an affinity to death And yet Perhaps he doesn’t understand death’s power

Just as you intended he is an unaffiliated individual wandering the System with one of the most powerful Soul Skills ever conceived

I would say the Soul Skill has the potential to rank 6th in all of the Cohorts The Creature interjected but Lyra ignored it and continued speaking

but you miss the point you fucking cunt You ask me why I’m calm in spite of my fear why I gave you the withered connection Randidly and I used as Sword and Sheath It’s because you can’t see it at all The thing that makes him so special

The Creature grimaced as if it had smelled something extremely disgusting You are talking once more of hope

Lyra nodded her eyes focusing on the reflecting pool and glowing violet Yes He burns with it That’s why I would sell everything to give him a path forward

I could have dominated him He might have been unable to escape that darkness and I would have ground his will to nothing He would be a puppet and one quite a bit more useful than you The Creature said watching Lyra carefully The teenager just smiled

Sighing the Creature pressed a hand to its temple and transformed becoming the spitting image of Lyra Well fine Do try to behave won’t you I have a village to run

The Creature flickered out of existence returning to Donnyton Lyra remained silent still mesmerized by the reflecting pool Likely as a way to drive her insane the Creature kept her here constantly watching Randidly But after the first few days it stopped stressing her out and making her extremely annoyed at the ridiculously shortsighted decisions he sometimes made and instead calmed her

After all if a fucking idiot like him although a cute one could survive out there what could someone like her accomplish

Thin flows of Aether emerged from Lyra’s eyes and slid up to the chains that bound her to the ceiling They didn’t touch the chains or the runes but began to rub against the roof slowly grinding it away

One day she would be free Lyra swore to herself But as she watched Randidly grow she couldn’t help but be extremely pleased He grew and grew and struggled and grew Her smile twisted her whole face It was that that endless strength and resilience that they needed

Because if Lyra had learned anything from the Creature it was the Being that it feared was very real and so powerful that words failed And yet the thought of such a foe only made her more excited Lyra couldn’t wait to see what the edges of possibility of Aether contained

Lyra watched Randidly’s reflection with a cheshire smile enraptured Her Aether ground away at the roof It was only a matter of time

Randidly winced as he walked over to the much smaller queue of individuals waiting for the second part of the preliminaries Shal’s reunion fight was very thorough But there was a definite difference in Randidly’s mind as he viewed Shal

Beyond his level of power sure But unbeatable

Well to him probably yes But Randidly was growing to understand his moves able to follow the attacks and patterns His experience from two years of constant fights in the prison was crystallizing into a very useful set of battle experience

There were only 150 or so contestants in the preliminaries now and as Randidly looked around he recognized Tartet the individual he fought against in the Qualifier staring at the ground Randidly considered approaching but then shrugged If they both passed and made it to the actual tournament they would face each other There was no need to struggle now

And honestly although he was much better at it now Randidly wasn’t a social person A more convenient time to talk would emerge Randidly was sure But he couldn’t help but notice that the aura of hunger that surrounded Tartet had grown much heavier Or perhaps Randidly had just grown more able to appreciate it

After a time the group was led to a large room where a serpent sat in the middle It was almost a dozen meters long with a head the size of a microwave that it raised as they walked in glancing at the intruders A tall bearded member of the tournament staff stepped up onto a small stage and spoke to them all

Welcome You can consider this a kind of reward’ round As you are no doubt aware certain affiliations allow their disciples to pass through directly to the preliminaries As this treatment is unfair we saw fit to add some benefit for those of you with enough strength to force your way into the tournament without relying on the strength of others That is not to say that this is easy to pass but everyone will have the opportunity to gain some amount of strength

This as some of you may have guessed is a Skill Spirit that was purchased by the village of Deardun It can teach you the skill Flexibility The requirements for passing the second round of the preliminary is simple Learn the skill and raise it to Lvl 15 in a 24 hour period The Skill Spirit as it is intimately familiar with the skill will be able to inform the staff when you have passed this level You have an hour to prepare before you will be given the opportunity to learn the skill Good luck

Randidly cracked his neck Honestly this was not such a difficult task For him at least the most prohibitive part would be the 24 hour time limit He also hadn’t gained 14 skill levels in a single skill in a single day before but he had never really tried He had definitely gained a lot more skill levels generally than 14 in a day Besides the simplest levels to gain were the first ones Now that Randidly’s overall level was much higher he anticipated that he would have very few problems finishing this task

For his part he was pleasantly surprised by the task Flexibility as a skill was probably profoundly helpful for using the spear Randidly suspected in his heart that Helen had such a skill based on her usage of the spear and ah other activities they had participated in together

But around him there were numerous individuals with ugly expressions on their faces After Randidly thought about it a bit he understood Likely the upset people were those who had no free skill slots or only one remaining Taking Flexibility here would be a boost in their strength but they wouldn’t get a powerful Skill Set later or they would be forced to forget something they already had

And for spear users at this level they didn’t have any low leveled skills How could they gain enough PP with their lower number but higher level skills to forget something in only an hour

Randidly sat on the ground and began to Meditate With his powerful will Randidly visualized the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil flowing into him Time passed while some of the other participants looked calm others trained desperately and a few just sat numb and hopeless

Standing Randidly began to approach the snake with a group of others as the hour time limit had passed the snake was open for business It hissed calmly almost as if it was trying to reassure the participants it was friendly but many of those spear users hopped backwards unnerved

The first to reach the snake was Tartet who touched the snake’s scales closed his eyes seemed to glow for a moment then turned and walked away and started to stretch

Randidly and a large group followed next and touched the snake

As Randidly left the snake a vein in his temple was throbbing

You do not have a class Please see the nearest Village Spirit to obtain a class and unlock the use of Skill Spirits

Randidly walked over to the bearded man who introduced the task Excuse me sir

The man looked up so Randidly continued Ah the System informed me that uh I have a skill too close to Flexibility to learn it Is there perhaps another task

The old man looked at Randidly for a long time and the blood in his chest began to pound He had guessed that such a phenomenon was possible based on some of the interactions of Soul Skills and had chosen it because he didn’t want to reveal his lack of class But if he had guessed wrong

But then the old man sighed and shook his head Bah I’m sorry lad but that’s your bad luck The Skill Spirit can sense similar skills to its particular brand though so just consider this an easy pass to the tournament

Randidly opened his mouth then closed it It seemed as though the old man was generally sorry that this task hadn’t helped him at all Then he nodded and turned away Well it would be an easy pass if he had a skill similar to Flexibility It did confirm that such things happened but

Then Randidly’s eyes began to burn Aether began to quicken in his body the frosty radiation swirling around The only option then was to create another skill

Chapter 212

Randidly found himself a corner and began to breath calmly his attention focusing inward He brought his consciousness down and began to focus on his Soul Skill His vision focused further and images of the small creatures that were spreading to populate his world came into sharp relief

Specifically of all of the creatures the ones that were the subject of Randidly’s examination were Annie’s creatures the bug centaurs But in addition to their insect like 4 lower legs they also had two long and willowy arms Their chitinous armor was grey and as Randidly watched them they leapt through the flatlands and rocky hills was an incredibly grace

It reminded him of videos he had seen on Earth about mountain goats Their movements seemed light but there was an incredible amount of strength in their base at all times In addition they had a very thin and supple waist which allowed their upper and lower halves to operate almost independently So while their bottoms allowed them to stroll upwards on almost sheer cliff faces their upper body could hold onto the primitive ranged weapons their people very quickly developed

They threw thin reed spears and slung rocks to deadly effect Luckily for Randidly although he hadn’t directly used Arbor and Thorn’s life and meaning it had worked itself into his Soul Skill and small plant creatures filled the world forming the bottom of the ecosystem that allowed the more advanced creatures to prosper

It felt lucky and incredibly so which made Randidly sweat He didn’t want this to be the final version of his Soul Skill and he already had some ideas about how he could improve it But he swore to himself that he would spend a lot more time researching ecosystems and climates before he made any great changes

So he watched these strange mostly silent murderous bug centaurs and their flexible movements Randidly watched them for a long time fully 6 hours

Then his eyes opened slowly and his eyes were a bright impossibly vivid emerald Aether began to circulate in his chest rapidly

Claptrap was slightly infuriated to discover that today as they arrived at the viewing area for the second part of the preliminaries there were already 4 other small carts set up offering portable snacks to the watchers It was only after he set up his stand and secretly sent an assitant to buy the competition did Claptrap relax

Their food was quick but it possessed none of the almost animalistic appeal that the Ghosthound’s recipes did Claptrap wasn’t sure how the man had done it in addition to training in the spear and Engraving at such a high level but everything that the Ghosthound touched turned to gold

Besides although the others had tried to copy his food Claptrap had gone last night with his brewer associate and quickly approached all brewers in Deardun letting them know what was going on By 4 AM after Claptrap and the woman had flashed some of the gold they had made they had established Deardun’s first ever Brewing Association as an independent entity from the Merchant Association

The brewers were skeptical but intrigued by the volume of ale that the female brewer had managed to sell yesterday alone and agreed to see whether it really was as good as Claptrap claimed So now Claptrap had almost 40 different types of alcohol from 7 different brewers and more waiting in the wings

It was perhaps just a coincidence but as Claptrap was trying to create a giant chalk board that morning as they were preparing to head over to the viewing area the Ghosthound had walked past and asked him what he was doing

Claptrap frothing at the mouth at his status at the head of this new business venture hurriedly explained

Then the Ghosthound shook his head No don’t bother with all at once Just have 8 at a time Tell customers that they are on rotation and when the casks run out it will switch to something else so they should buy what they want now before it runs out A deadline makes people more willing to buy Oh and don’t bother with these long explanations you just need three things on a board like this The Brewer the name of the beer and the color or base for the drink For example amber or stout or apple cider

Some of the words that the Ghousthound used Claptrap was unfamiliar with but he was furiously scribbling notes At one point the Ghosthound fell silent as if pondering something and Claptrap gazed at him with growing concern

Is Is something wrong Claptrap muttered

The Ghoshound’s eyes refocused and he shook his head No it’s just I’ve been thinking about why something like this hasn’t appeared in this world and I guess you are thinking in too much detail Also you are too prideful in your approach These ales have always been here right But you need to buy them by the cask or go to an inn which may have one or two varieties That’s because you think customers will come to you if they want something Which is true and there are definitely people who won’t like the product but there is a huge middle crowd of people that would take the product if it was convenient

The Ghosthound scratched his chin and then said before walking away There aren’t many people who would go out of their way to buy ale But if they were attending something else entirely like a sporting event and started to get thirsty How many of those people could resist a drink

Claptrap was slack jawed for several minutes It certainly was almost desperate what the Ghosthound was suggesting Going out and bringing the product to people But based on the results there certainly had to be some truth to the Ghosthound’s methods

So they followed the Ghosthound’s advice and Claptrap was slack jawed by how many spear users changed their mind and bought a second glass of their favorite mead when he told them that it would be rotated out with another when the cask was empty

It was another 24 hour preliminary and after a batch of people surrendered early it seemed like it would take the entire time so everyone settled back down to wait quickly getting food and drink settling into a festival like atmosphere

Claptrap began to consider Ghosthound’s second point about why something like this hadn’t happened before Claptrap supposed that previously there was a sort of if you build it they will come mentality so the merchant’s quarter of Deardun was established giving the merchants a seat of power and prestige But Claptrap had to admit that it was only rarely that the powerful Style’s disciples came to that area It was mostly business between merchants that was conducted there

On the other hand the Ghosthound seemed to suggest that merchants instead build it where they are already coming Yes and the king of it was convenience When it was so convenient and tasty who could resist

Heyo Claptrap How goes it Old Clete said sidling up into the stand his eyes excited at the line stretching out waiting to get a drink Old Clete was the largest brewer in Deardun and most of the difficulty in establishing the Brewing Association was convincing this stubborn old man that their idea was feasible

Quite well thank you I believe we’ve sold 4 entire casks already And your Autumn Cinnamon Ale is very popular that cask is almost empty Do you have another we can use

w w w w w w w what Old Clete said his eyes springing open

Claptrap shrugged Go talk to the guys in the back if you want the concrete numbers I think someone was talking to one of your guys of ordering a cask of one of your other ales too

Five whole casks Claptrap had never seen anyone move quite as fast as Old Clete sprinting around to talk to the men in the back working with setting up the casks While keeping his expression from veering towards smug Claptrap took the order from the next customer

Idly Claptrap wondered what he should invest all of his newfound money into Maybe he should consult with the Ghosthound

Randidly’s eyes crept open his chest burning with power

18 hours had passed but he almost had it With Aether thundering in his ears Randidly continued to move smoothly bending at the waist keeping his shoulders and elbows relaxed as he followed the inspiration from the creatures based on Annie’s energy

The more he followed it the looser his body became and the more strange looks he got from his fellow contestants But he ignored them And after a while a notification that he was waiting for popped up in front of him

Chapter 213

Randidly smiled even though he now only had 6 hours to gain 14 levels Also the second line made him roll his eyes

Congratulations Your own personal skill has been created You have created the skill Flexibility of the White Hunters ® Lvl 1 Due to proceeding to a different Cohort than your home planet to create the skill all bonuses associated with the record of creating a Rare skill are lost

So it seemed that the System still refused to reward him for creating skills while here But still this was a flexibility skill that he needed It was an added benefit that it was at the Rare rarity as well Which was in a way a double edge sword because it would make it that much more difficult to level But Randidly didn’t mind so much If that was the cost of his power so be it

Immediately Randidly launched into training for his skill moving rapidly pushing his body to the limits of his flexibility He activated Haste and Empower to cram more movements into a shorter amount of time Again Randidly tried to ignore the stares as his movements switched from silly looking to so fast they left after images but he didn’t have any choice Although this was meant to be a bonus round it was clear that if he didn’t attain the requisite skill level he would lose his chance to participate

Right around the 3 hour mark Randidly had raised the level of his new skill to 10 But in his heart he wasn’t sure if this was fast enough Those final 5 levels would be the most difficult He had two options in his mind The first was to spend a little more time watching the being in his soul skill getting a little extra image for his training On the other hand

Randidly’s gaze slid over to Tertet Without a doubt a battle right now would increase his rate of improvement No one else was fighting each other but there hadn’t been any additional rules added by the bearded man so it likely was allowed Perhaps even encouraged so the spear users would thin each other out

Still Randidly didn’t want to totally transform into the type of person who would destroy others for sport His lessons in the prison still made Randidly uneasy as they didn’t entirely make sense Shal seemed to have a very selective sense of righteousness

But as his gaze lingered on Tertet Tertet glanced up and their gazes locked Tertet’s eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth He drew his two spears and began to stroll towards Randidly that powerful spirit of hunger roaring around him

Inwardly Randidly rolled his eyes but raised his own spear and walked towards Tertet Truly sometimes things were so simple that they made you feel foolish for over thinking them

To think you actually made it Tertet hissed spinning his spears slowly I wouldn’t have thought your physical specs were enough to survive that challenge But I suppose you simply relied on your magic didn’t you

Tertet’s tone attracted the attention of some of the nearby spear users but Randidly didn’t bother answering Instead he began to rush forward being extremely mindful of his ability to use his body maintaining the flexibility in his joints Seeing that his statement didn’t seem to have any effect on Randidly Tertet’s face turned serious

Afterall although he mocked him for it Randidly’s spells had left a profound effect on the man Their power was such that they should not be underestimated If he had known that Randidly planned on fighting without relying on such things he probably would have laughed After all their time in the preliminaries was a short while ago At most one could stay in a dungeon for around 6 months before the risk of Aether Starvation was too high to reasonably ignore And although you might be able to safely eke out another few weeks how much improvement could you gain in that time Was it worth the chance that your body ran out of fuel leaving you unable to continue

The two figures rushed towards one another and their spears smashed together The strange unpredictable strikes were just as powerful if not more so than Randidly remembered but Tertet wasn’t the only one that improved In fact

What Tertet gasped leaping backwards after a single exchange of blows Although his strike was clearly more powerful what was most disturbing was that the other man had dispersed all of the force of it without shifting his stance at all They were much much closer to evenly matched than they had been in the past Tertet had assumed he could force the Ghosthound to use spells and discredit him he had not expected that his opponent would have such a jump in strength

How Tertet began to ask but Randidly unleashed a slash at the other man forcing him to grit his teeth and block Then twisting Randidly unleashed another strike not using any particular skill but twisting his body with increasing speed relying on elasticity and flexibility to empower and quicken his strikes And it was working to a small degree His attacks were certainly sharper and more rhythmic

That combined with the shock of Randidly’s change sent Tertet reeling and he couldn’t seem to recover his feet as he was pushed farther and farther backwards Finally Randidly used his larger spear to smash Tertet backwards smashing him into another man

Most of the spear users had gathered curious but just watching to relieve their own boredom However after Randidly smashed his opponent to the side he stood tall and glanced around Almost instinctively several of those spear users who met his gaze felt something tingling in their chest driving them towards this posturing individual

A few raised their spears the joy of battle lust coloring their features Randidly grinned

3 hours later a panting and bloody group of spear users including Randidly passed the second preliminary round and would be entered into the wider tournament 76 people had passed and with the 100 that were chosen by the powerful Styles these final 176 people would participate in the tournament

After Randidly had begun fighting random spear users basically all of the remaining people joined in throwing themselves into battle in order to hone themselves a bit before the finals After all a lot of these people had just received the Flexibility skill and needed to learn how to use it in order to fight more effectively in the actual tournament In addition the plethora of Styles represented in the preliminary would give them a taste of dealing with attacks they didn’t recognize All in all it turned out to be an extremely valuable time to fight

Randidly as he walked back through the streets watching all the passing civilians who talked about the exciting tournament that would start in two days time was most excited about his new Lvl 17 Skill Flexibility of the White Hunters

In addition to those 16 PP he had also gained 3 Lvls in Phantom Onslaught 4 in Battle Intent 2 in Meditation and The Golden Roots of Yggdrasil 3 in Spear Mastery 2 in Footwork of the Spear Phantom 1 in Haste Empower and Second Wind and 2 in Stalemate Breaker which Randidly was able to use to a pretty profound effect when he used it

Still Stalemate Breaker currently left him extremely underpowered immediately afterwards which was difficult to justify considering how small of a boost it currently was But still it was a skill that would grow more valuable the more he put into it Randidly poured his 40 PP into the Initiate of Ash I Path which netted him nothing but almost finished it but did get another notification that brought him a significant amount of Joy

Congratulations Your Soul Skill has released the Blessing of Murderous Cold upon you Perception +3 Reaction +6 Agility +3 Range of Hearing and Vision permanently expanded by 1% +6 Free stats

Randidly scratched his head Range of hearing and vision expanded Did that mean he would eventually be able to hear dog whistles and see ultraviolet light

Then he shrugged What was more interesting was that this blessing gave much more stats than the last one but didn’t have the huge regeneration bonus the other provided Still it was interesting and good to know that all of this PP was going to a good use His 6 free stats went to Intelligence which was beginning to fall behind his other offensive stats

Randidly then looked at his improved stats and skills

Health(/R per hour) 1322/1399 (+118) (508 (+27

Mana(/R per hour) 649/1498 (+5) (154 75 (+9

Stam(/R per min) 1233/1510 (215 (+9

Vit 147 (+9)

End 71

Str 113 (+17)

Agi 134 (+17)

Perception 103 (+10)

Reaction 131

Resistance 94 (+15)

Willpower 143 (+10)

Intelligence 106

Wisdom 59 (+9)

Focus 155 (+4)

Skills (Soul Skill) Four Shaded Clockwork World Lvl 122

Combat Spear Mastery Lvl 113 The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Lvl 79 (Un) Spear Phantom’s Footwork Lvl 98 Eyes of the Spear Phantom Lvl 76 White Phantom’s Half Step (Un) Lvl 46 Heavy Blow Lvl 59 Dagger Mastery Lvl 10 Iron Skin Lvl 47 Dodge Lvl 56 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 82 Block Lvl 46 Haste Lvl 71 Phantom Onslaught Lvl 42 Sweep Lvl 54 Spear Deflect Lvl 10 Empower Lvl 87 Calculated Blow Lvl 64 Roundhouse Kick Lvl 36 Flesh Eating Virus (Un) Lvl 47 Idiosyncratic Cut (Un) Lvl 61 Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth Lvl 33 Battle Intent Lvl 83 Struggle Lvl 61 Body Control Freeze Lvl 19 The Golden Roots of Yggdrasil Lvl 29 Stalemate Breaker Lvl 3

The 7 Kata of the Ashen Spear The Spear Advances Ash Trails Lvl 18

Spells Spearing Roots Lvl 34 Mana Bolt Lvl 28 Mana Shield Lvl 26 Root Control Lvl 91 Arcane Orb Lvl 22 Fireball Lvl 30 Magic Missile Lvl 4 Healing Palm Lvl 12 Pollen of the Rafflesia Lvl 20 Summon Pestilence Lvl 53 Mana Strengthening Lvl 61 Wall of Thorns Lvl 16 Soul Seed Lvl ® Agony Lvl 37 Inspiration ® Incinerating Bolt Lvl 64 Circle of Flame Lvl 39 Plantomancy Lvl 29 The Weeping Cloud ® Lvl 59 Hammer of the Dawn Lvl 1 Burning Footsteps Lvl 1

Crafting Potion Making Lvl 37 Farming Lvl 20 Plant Breeding Lvl 9 Mapmaker Lvl 7 Analyze Lvl 24 Refine Lvl 17 Extract Lvl 23 Mana Engraving Lvl 64

Auxiliary Physical Fitness Lvl 74 Meditation Lvl 68 Running Lvl 39 Sprinting Lvl 19 Sneak Lvl 46 Acid Resistance Lvl 22 Poison Resistance Lvl 21 Pain Resistance Lvl 29 First Aid Lvl 16 Equip Lvl 25 Pathfinding Lvl 18 Mental Strength Lvl 17 Curse Resistance Lvl 15 Fire Resistance Lvl 14 Sewing Lvl 11 Cutting Vegetables Lvl 2 Manual Labor Lvl 6 Digging Lvl 5 Cooking Lvl 34 Grace Lvl 41 Bacterial Regeneration Lvl 70 Superiority Lvl 22 Mental Fortitude Lvl 45 Second Wind Lvl 42 Weather Affinity Lvl 32 Clockwork Mastery Lvl 16 Rejection Lvl 27 Aether Connection Lvl 1 Flexibility of the White Hunters ® Lvl 17

It was the status of someone who had a class except for his monstrous list of skills Although it caused Judgements to descend after him Randidly couldn’t deny that it had been worth it so far And he was only growing more unstoppable

Then Randidly winced remembering the beating he had received from Shal earlier in the day Well not unstoppable But his improvement was at the very least impressive right

Chapter 214

Shal watched as his disciple dropped the diary huffing His mouth twisted into a grin Still insufficient You must have less talent than I had thought to fail to improve even after all of this time with access to the diary

His disciple gave him a look that was more exasperated than annoyed so Shal let it slide Besides although he had moved himself closer to a level of Aether that he could subsist on the problems hadn’t completely gone away After their spar the previous day Shal had been forced to nap for several hours to reach an equilibrium

It was incredibly frustrating For Shal this was the moment he had been waiting for his entire life the chance for vengeance on Lucretia But he was bound tied by his Aether weakness unable to train So he could only sharpen himself mentally working on clarifying his images focusing on strengthening his Battle Intent He wasn’t sure of her strength but

It was always clear from Aemont’s attitude when her name came up that he was wary of her And although Shal thought himself strong stronger than he had ever revealed that strength was partially from relying on the legacy of his father Since that was the case and Shal had been unable to master the 5th and 6th moves as of yet

Shal’s mouth firmed into a fine line as he came back to the moment with his disciple standing in front of him As Shal’s thoughts had wandered it seemed as though his disciple was considering something

Unsurprisingly the idiot blurted it out after several seconds Shal there might be a way to get rid of the rest of your Aether sickness I have a skill

The problem is solved Shal said smoothly folding his arms

Now his disciple frowned clearly wanting to fight him on this issue What annoyed Shal into action was the fact that his disciple was right the problem wasn’t near solved Still while it was true that this boy had an exceedingly strange relationship with Aether Shal was unwilling to follow it any further He did not want to rely on outside influence for this

It was already enough that his ticket to the land that Lucretia had sequestered herself depended on the foolish boy To also be borrowing his strength in the final battle It was enough to make Shal ill Even the ticket would likely never had happened had Shal not felt enough respect for Aemont’s legacy to pass it onto another

And the fact that that happened

Shal’s frown slowly fell away Why had it happened He was injured in the dungeon while his mind was unfocused before he had found direction for himself but why had he been in the dungeon There was a letter

Are you sure His disciple asked once more causing Shal to lose his train of thought

Sighing Shal rolled up his sleeves and cracked his knuckles Then he invited his disciple upstairs Sure the fool had the tournament tomorrow but some things could only be conveyed from man to man through fists There was an honor and brutal honesty to it that was unappreciated by many but Shal had learned it from his father and now he taught that same lesson to Randidly

When a man says he is finished speaking the only communication that is left is fists

The tournament itself was very different from the preliminaries The 76 individuals who had passed which included Randidly and Tertet were stretched out underneath a pole at one end of a wide arena their Tassles hanging over them Randidly’s still stuck out like a sore thumb its emerald gold color clear in the gloom but as he looked around he saw a familiar Tassle on the far side opposite his

Red violet with white the Tassle of Dian disciple of Haelthing the Devourer Randidly’s hand instinctively clenched on his spear After learning the story about Shal’s relationship with Haelthing Randidly had more questions than answers and none of the stories told why there was a disciple Based upon what he had heard towards the end Haelthing had sent everyone away from his seat of power except Shal’s brother

When then did he have time to raise a disciple

Randidly sighed Probably pointless to decide But there really wasn’t much else to do They had been led out here and displayed but only now were the stands of the arena beginning to fill Slowly but surely more and more people piled in filling the seats Randidly was slightly amused by some of Claptrap’s little henchmen running around selling snacks and beer It certainly was a surreal experience watching a culture discover fast food

They stood there for another hour before anything changed finally a bugle sounded and a gate opened opposite them Out streamed 100 individuals each whose name and Style was announced waving a tall pole with a Tassle made on a scale larger than those given to the individuals who passed the preliminaries These young spear users were carrying ornate and Engraved spears and wore luxurious clothes more fit for dandies than fighters

But all armor that gave any boosts were required to be removed during the tournament so Randidly supposed he could understand why they decided to take the fashion route The only problem was how silly they all looked like some weird cross between a roman legionnaire and a peacock

Claptrap had asked what sort of industry Randidly advised they move into next and the sight of this was a large temptation to recommend they corner the fashion market while there were clearly no competitors But Randidly had to admit that he would be just as inept well not THAT inept as these people and it was a foolish decision

Perhaps also it was annoying to have to wait while all these fops would be introduced Which was what Randidly thought until he examined them more closely Sure they looked and dressed and acted like idiots but the auras they produced were not that of idiots These individuals strutted and loped their bodies lean and graceful The air around them was positively electric

There was even a feeling in the air that Randidly could intermittently catch whiffs of it demonstrated how close some of these people were to the Artisan level with a spear Their Battle Intents were strong and powerful

So this is the real level of the competition ’ Randidly thought inwardly eyeing them up And everyone around him was doing the same watching the chosen ones carefully There was certainly an us versus them mindset that the organizers made no effort to conceal These were the vetted and powerful while these were the struggling trash

Orangey’s annoying ass face floated to the surface of Randidly’s consciousness and he grinned Instead of being scared Randidly felt his blood begin to flow more quickly inside of him He had been training these past two years for these pampered individuals It was good that they were worth all the hype

In addition it was now much easier to understand why Shal was so adamant that he train and reforge himself These spear users were far beyond the level of his previous self even with some of the advantages and surprises he could utilize due to his spells These people couldn’t be beaten with cantrips

Welcome all to the 132nd Northern Regional Tournament The announcer said after every one of the disciples of the high ranking Styles had been introduced He went on to talk about the honor of the tournament and the glory of the Spearman School but Randidly largely ignored it This was not what he was here for It was only when the announcer began to speak of the rules of the competition that Randidly tuned back in

From 176 of you The announcer spoke The first order of business will to be whittle down the group to the 32 finalists For that reason all of you will participate in several round robin 1 v 1 style of matches triple elimination If at all possible we will arrange the matches in a fair manner so matches between disciples of the same Style will not be allowed Each individual will participate in 4 matches a day until we reach the requisite number In addition in order to fairly determine the relative strength of the seeded participants versus the ones who came from the preliminaries the first and third match of every day will be between a seeded individual and one from the preliminaries as numbers will allow

The seeded individuals barred their teeth at their fellow participants across from them and several of those who passed through the preliminaries shifted side to side Randidly snorted Every other match as numbers would allow eh

Going on the very real assumption that most seeded individuals were stronger than the preliminary ones that would mean that a great majority of the seeded individuals would pass through the first day while most of the preliminary participants would be pushed out That wasn’t 100% true but it was designed in such a way that this was the more likely outcome

Again the discourse turned to the glory and strength of the Spearman Style but Randidly simply smiled his grin vicious Yesterday after his mana had returned to him he had been experimenting with his two new spells Hammer of the Dawn and Burning Footsteps as well as training with Marco Polo to strengthen Stalemate Breaker

He couldn’t wait to fight

He couldn’t wait to teach these fools the name Ghosthound

Chapter 215

Triple elimination meant that there was some room for mistakes Randidly admitted to himself but relying on that wasn’t a path that would be very productive After all there would be several fights in a short period of time so once the losses started they would be hard to stop Also as Randidly looked at the schedule it was clear that the format was designed to benefit those coming from the more powerful Styles Although ostensibly the arrangement was two in the morning two in the evening the middle two matches were very close to each other in time

Even for Randidly he would be hard pressed to recover his stamina in the short amount of time between matches Depending on how long your 2nd match ran your 3rd might begin immediately Whereas the seeded individuals likely knew each other and would acquiesce to their differences in strength immediately Randidly suspected that those who came in by way of the preliminaries would struggle desperate for all the wins that they could manage

Well ’ Randidly reflected with a small smile on his face All of this means nothing in the face of true skill ’

After the introductions and opening ceremonies ended the group of them were taken into a dark underground hall As they passed Randidly saw that there were 4 stages up in the main arena level In the underground there were simply long dingy rooms lined with wooden benches

In a strange show of solidarity even the high level Styles came down there sitting in the darkness biding their time They of course sat with each other and coolly ignored the preliminary winners but still in this respect and this alone they were aligned In their waiting

An assistant began calling names and steadily groups of two would head upstairs and onto the stages one preliminary participant and one from the upper Styles Very swiftly yells and cheers were audible

Perhaps most dispiriting most of the initial fights seemed to be going very noticeably in the favor of the Styles This was to be expected but many of the preliminary participants came down from their match wounded and hollow eyed They were not allowed to use any potions in the interim and were only given bandages to cover their wounds

It was about halfway through the first round of matches that Randidly heard his name and slowly stood

Randidly Ghosthound Kishta Darth

Randidly spared the woman who would be his opponent a glance She was decked out in embroidered leather and had a willowy ornate lance She honestly looked like someone from Earth who was cosplaying as a druid with flowers and plants hand stitched into every very expensive seeming article of clothing But whereas the cosplayers from Randidly’s world ultimately had a hollowness to them proof that they were just pretending this Kishta burned with haughty arrogance

Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and she was far too important to spare him a glance So the two walked up the stairs mirroring each other but refusing to make any sort of further recognition They emerged and there was some mild cheers from the crowd almost perfunctory There seemed to be a very furious clash on Stage A but there was much less excitement over on Stage C where Randidly and the woman were to fight

This fact finally seemed to penetrate through Kishta’s exterior and her mouth thinned into almost nonexistence as she saw the lack of recognition as she ascended to the stage As her gaze finally seemed to acknowledge Randidly settling on him for a few seconds her eyes began to fill with a vicious fire and determination

Randidly wanted to sigh in exasperation Sure he wanted to have a good fight with the woman sharpening his skills as much as he could in these earlier fights when he could afford a loss But fighting against someone who was only doing it to earn the recognition of the crowd left him a bit unmotivated

But then he closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath His heart was beating rapidly excitement and nerves mixing in his chest Aether began to slowly flow through his limbs This was it He’d finally made it All this training these past two years it was all for this Reaching the top 8 at this Regional Tournament Already he could feel himself wishing for a return to Earth

There was just this line to cross and then he could return It had only been 4 months from Donnyton’s perspective but even that much made Randidly nervous when left alone with the strange influence that was the System

The referee for the match an elderly woman who kept her hands held behind her back looked at them both

Spearmen are you ready

Kishta raised her beautiful work of art with a flourish Yes this spearman is ready

Randidly mirrored her raising his huge obsidian spear which basically looked like an unrefined pole of rock next to the ornate grace of Kishta’s spear But still there was a baleful and oppressive power in that size

Yes this spearman is ready Randidly’s voice trembled speaking in front of such a large crowd tor the first time There were thousands filling the stands right now chatting and distracted by the four stages and fights And there was still plenty of space in the stands More people would come as the level of competition would increase This was still a time of refining moving towards a lower number of contestants

But his focus slowly narrowed until he only saw his opponent The rest fell away He was a spear and the only way that he could proceed was by advancing forward

Begin The referee said her eyes glinting as she looked at the two contestants

Flexing his legs Randidly launched himself at his opponent his blood roaring through his ears He would crush his opponent at any cost

The male spear attendant had a grave expression on his face as he watched

You really He started lamely then shook his head and tried again You really aren’t that attractive Why do you need that foul smelling disguise

Helen gave him a sharp glance that told him she would brutalize him in their next spar and then looked away Fucking focus it’s starting

Claptrap now had enough support from the Brewing Association so he no longer needed them to work for his rapidly growing Concessions business Instead they came early to watch the Ghosthound’s matches Since they knew that his first match would be on Stage C from the schedule they got a pretty good seat for that area

Which stage he was on would be determined basically by how much money the Style of the seeded individual had donated to the tournament so the fact that the fight was on Stage C meant that this opponent was not the upper echelon of the opponents that Randidly would be facing But still she was a pampered child of a powerful Style the type of opponent that couldn’t be underestimated

As the referee called the beginning of the match the Ghosthound made the first move launching himself forward towards his opponent The woman’s spear rose its delicate point aiming for his throat but the Ghosthound began attacking viciously

Once twice three times their spears crossed attacks smashing into each other in quick succession

The male spear attendant yawned

Helen sat on the edge of her seat clearly much more invested in the fight The male spear attendant could only shake his head and turn to regard Teliph who sat on his other side He too was engrossed in the fight

their level of skill Both of them not just the Ghosthound Helen said sucking in a breath

But unfortunately for her that is where their similarities end Teliph said as he crossed his arms making the male spear attendant wonder how he managed to see with his eyes covered by bandages

The Ghosthound struck again smashing his huge spear into the woman and her face twisted into a look of pure hatred as his attack knocked her a meter backwards Advancing quickly the Ghosthound pressed his advantage attacking before she could regain her center of gravity

They weren’t even huge blows those attacks They were non skill strikes But it was clear that the Ghosthound’s physical specs far outstripped the womans She hopped backwards hoping to make space but he continued to advance that black obsidian spear smashing again and again against her guard

Twisting her feet Kishta moved with a strange animal grace finally managing to create some distance The Ghosthound raised his spear his feet settling to follow with the absolutely haunting Spear Phantom’s Footwork but then he hesitated

“You ” Kishta’s eyes were murderous and it was easy for the male spear attendant to understand why He shook his head sadly

He too when he first met the Ghosthound thought that he would easily crush the man But he was less spear user more monster with a growth rate that surpassed the imagination

He should be more respectful but the male spear attendant just found himself annoyed at this junior who took so long to realize a lesson he himself had already learned

“You forced me to this consider yourself proud ” Kishta yelled her eyes glowing The ground beneath hem began to rumble

Randidly couldn’t help but roll his He hoped every spoiled spear user wouldn’t be this cliche

Chapter 216

Kishta Darth was the nurtured chosen disciple of the Blooming Flower Style This Style wasn’t particularly powerful in the Northern Region but it had affiliations with the leading Style of the Eastern Region which was eyeing the relatively less competitive Northern Region This Style was the first probe and Kishta was the chosen poster child

If she were able to achieve exemplary results in the tournament the Blooming Flower Style would earn prestige and finally be able to step out from the periphery to be one of the more well known Styles in the Northern Region

However the elders of the style were realistic although Kishta was an extremely talented seed she hadn’t yet come into her true skill as a Spear user She had rushed up in levels too quickly to improve her strength not focusing on her skill levels

Still the Eastern forces wanted to still make a splash so they had ensured that recently Kishta had spent quite a bit of time training in less mainstream arts giving Kishta a weapon the elders were sure to catch her opponents by surprise

Which was why it rankled Kishta that she was forced to use it so early But results outweighed methods She could not lose to a prelim cretin especially when he so clearly was the type to overinvest in strength earning himself a ridiculous power regardless of his true skill In Kishta’s mind she knew that if it became a battle of endurance this fool who invested so heavily in the physical attack stats would run out of stamina and lose

But that would take some time especially if he realized her plan and also it wouldn’t achieve the splashy results that the Eastern Style demanded She had no choice

“You forced me to this ” She spat out glaring daggers at her opponent “Consider yourself proud “

To Kishta’s disappointment the man simply hesitated and then advanced towards her his face blank He was a tall man of lean muscles and dark hair to his shoulders He was strangely pale of skin but otherwise he seemed like an unimpressive spear user The only detail that revealed his infuriating strength was his vivid emerald eyes Those eyes had dispassionately looked at her the entire fight calmly analyzing not even seeming to recognize her for her well admired beauty and prestige

That moment when she attacked and his emerald eyes widened with panic Kishta was looking forward to it

A wave of mana spread outwards as she marshalled her forces and then the spell kicked in Thin extremely numerous roots crept upward from the ground They were thin and weak individually but when several dozen wrapped around your legs their strength was more than enough to slow a spear user down

That was the secret weapon they had worked so hard on these past few months She had refined the rather useless skill Entangling Roots into Root Manipulation allowing her to rather simply seal off the movements of other spear users

Kishta had become extremely proficient at using and controlling these roots while attacking So she lowered her spear and rushed forward pouring all of her mana out in a huge explosion of roots from the ground Hundreds of these thin roots surged upwards wrapping around her opponent’s ankles and knees More surged forward heading for his arms

As Kishta prepared to execute her Blooming Strike Skill she glanced very quickly at her opponent’s eyes searching for that fear Instead she found that his gaze was filled with a strange pitty

“Is this a joke ” Her opponent whispered seemingly talking to himself and Kishta flushed It was true this wasn’t honorable And also based on the fact that her opponent hadn’t used many movement skills he could still rely on his superior strength without changing his battle style overmuch But once he was locked down she could slowly slice this fool to pieces for the glory of her Style

“A win’s a win Prepare to be crushed “

Boom

Kishta blinked Three huge roots gnarled monstrous things that seemed strangely gold and luminescent ripped out of the ground and flailed back and forth ripping through all of her roots

Kishta froze which was a mistake in a huge swing one of the three roots whipped outwards and smashed into her thigh and she heard the bone crack With a low cry she fell to the ground

“What what was “

Kishta was at a loss her perspective rattled Her opponent shook his head and looked to the referee who shrugged “Technically she still has the capacity to fight and she has not given up The match must continue “

Sighing her opponent turned back to her his emerald eyes lightening to fresh cut grass in summer “Fine Stand up and raise your spear It is only in spear skills that you have the strength to fight me “

“You ” Kishta hissed leaping to her feet This method was carefully considered by the elders of her Style and it would carry her to a high finish in the tournament They had lauded her as a genius when it came to combining battle strategy with spells Her mastery over Entangling Roots gifted her with Root Manipulation faster than they had ever seen And now this foolish preliminary trash dared mock her

Using all of her mana in a single go the ground exploded with roots thousands of the small pale green things stretching forward aiming for the spear user opposite her

In slow motion Kishta watched the man she faced shake his head

“Fool “

The next moment Kishta felt her body pierced by several strong forces in quick succession and she lowered her gaze to find that she had been riddled with sharp roots her mobility completely destroyed Then blood began to gush from the huge wounds inflicted on her and swiftly her consciousness departed

“This this wasn’t how it was supposed to “

Then the darkness claimed her

“After the first round ” The head referee began as he spoke right before the second round of fights were announced “13 individuals voluntarily withdrew from the tournament due to unrelated reasons

Randidly grimaced and a lot of the preliminary participants had similar expressions on their faces Most of those withdrawals were due to injuries that couldn’t be recovered from within the requisite amount of time between rounds In a way it was more honorable to just surrender without wasting the audience’s time with matches that were meaningless

But Randidly felt some cold gazes on his back and squared his shoulders

It seemed that one of those withdrawals was from the individual he had fought against but he couldn’t really bother to care Before he had been even able to work off the nerves of fighting in front of the huge crowd and find a rhythm with their spear fight she had challenged him with roots It was one of the most silly things that had happened to him in recent memory

Randidly had even sensed that if he had wanted he could seize control of her roots with his superior grade skill Root Control But what would have been the point So Randidly crushed her mercilessly ending the fight as quickly as possible Randidly did not believe that her injuries had been so serious they couldn’t be recovered in the interim so the mental blow he had given her by destroying her roots must have crushed her will to fight

Based on his performance Randidly had earned the dubious nickname as the “1st Prince” among the preliminary participants There were 5 Princes in total for the 5 preliminary spear users who defeated individuals from the larger Styles Randidly had faced a relatively weak one but still those numbers were discouraging That meant that 71 out of 76 victories had gone to the larger Styles

And based on the excitement generated by Randidly and the other 4 this was the highest amount of victories that preliminary entrants had managed in decades

These thoughts faded away as Randidly began to meditate focusing on the issue at hand Slowly the second round began and more names were called and summoned to the stage

Relatively quickly Randidly’s name was called “Azriel Blanche Randidly Ghosthound “

There was a tremor in the crowd as the two contestants headed to the stage the first stage After ascending the stairs from the underground waiting area Randidly turned and found himself facing a slim girl She had white hair hanging to her waist and her eyes were a bloody red In her hands she held a strange slender spear that was pointed on both ends It seemed more like a needle than a spear She wore an ensemble of black leather that left her shoulders bare and seemed eminently capable in it

Her gaze was frigid and remorseless but seemed to be calculating something as she examined him in turn She was Randidly admitted to himself the most beautiful woman he had ever seen

“They won’t have told you ” The girl Azriel began “But I am one of the two most likely to win this Regional Tournament Your matching with me was not an accident Mr First Prince Ghosthound “

Randidly remained silent sizing her up But she kept talking

“But in fact I care very little for the honor of the Styles that hold sway in the North I would like to thank you on their behalf for ridding us of someone weak She was judged fairly and failed To purge the Northern Region of that weakness it truly is a beautiful thing isn’t it “

Chapter 217

Abruptly Randidly realized that the entire crowd had fallen silent as this small girl spoke Even the referee stood at the side deferentially And there was something in the air a palpable energy around Azriel Randidly couldn’t find himself to disbelieve that this individual was one of the favorites to win the tournament Her Battle Intent

His eyes narrowed That’s what this was Artisan An Artisan level

Aether began to roar as it swiftly flowed through him to his fingertips and toes his entire body trembling His previous match was against a rather weak disciple and now

“So too ” Azriel said her gaze sharpening “You will be judged If your results are insufficient you can only blame your own weakness “

“Are both Spear users ready ” The referee said stepping forward Azriel said nothing Randidly nodded

“Begin “

There was a half moment and then Randidly’s instincts kicked in screaming at him Haste Empower Mana Strengthening and the active version of the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil snapped on burning as much Mana and Stamina as he needed to activate all the skills that would improve his body so he could dodge to the side

But Azriel was already there her slender needle spear aiming for his throat This amount of speed it made Randidly embarrassed to think about his own skill the Spear Advances Ash Trails This brooked no resistance It was rapid and precise and even Randidly’s powerful senses hadn’t realized she had moved until she had arrived

There wasn’t an image used but the air behind Azriel vibrated with power It was like an unstoppable asteroid like the one that descended and murdered all of Earth’s dinosaurs millions of years ago Unavoidable a force of nature preordained

But Randidly was experienced in those feelings from his own images and although the strength of his Battle Intent was severely lacking his focus on those particular emotions were what he focused on He wasn’t about to be discouraged by just that

In his chest the bundle of Aether that was his skill Rejection burned with resentment and unwillingness Not like this he wouldn’t just lose like this

Reject

A deep vibration emerged from his Aether surprising Randidly but there was no time to think about it any further because this needle spear had arrived and there was no more time

Azriel streaked past then stopped turning and regarding Randidly

His chest was heaving and his eyes were wide Although power was coursing through his limbs it wasn’t enough The needle had ripped a hole in the muscle of his upper shoulder entering his body right above his collarbone on the left side

But had he not reacted as quickly the attack would have taken him in the neck perhaps ending him permanently It was difficult to admit but all of his effort amounted to only 4 inches before this woman

Much to Randidly’s surprise her eyes began to glow with an unholy red light

“Interesting Interesting “

With a smile on her face Azriel began streaking back and forth in a zigzag pattern making it impossible for Randidly even with Eyes of the Spear Phantom to track her In a way it was a slow approach as she weaved forward and away from him but in another it was still frighteningly fast But before his eyes could recognize the small girl went on the offensive Azriel and her needle were there slashing at him

This time Randidly used Phantom Half Step several times in succession creating some distance It allowed him the precious moments he needed to find his feet and prepare to avoid her attacks

Which Randidly was able to barely on her next two strikes But Azriel continued to accelerate And accelerate and accelerate

Randidly woke with a start Then he swore

“Thirty seven seconds the match lasted Quite impressive all things considered Still the shortest match the 5 Princes participated in but you certainly had the most ferocious opponent if not the strongest “

Randidly looked up to find the bearded man who had served as the announcer for the tournament looking down at him Seeing the comprehension in Randidly’s gaze the referee nodded “I’m just here to confirm do you still wish to continue The next round is about to start

Standing up Randidly grimaced The amount of damage he had taken was not small Several holes and gashes although bandaged were still in the process of knitting themselves together Slowly Randidly eased himself back down onto the bench Yes But I’ll stay here until my name gets called

The referee gave him a pitying look You are now a known affront to the honor of the larger Styles Ghosthound Do you think you can rest But truthfully there is a bigger fish in their eyes Of the 5 Princes there was one that actually won against the upper cream of the Styles’ disciples

After leaving Randidly’s side the referee went to the front of the crowd and began the third round immediately The first two names included one that made Randidly’s eyes narrow Dian

So did that mean that she had advanced to the point where she could rival that level of existence in battle Was she the Prince that actually won It was a scary thought Although it was true that there was a formidable power in her strange energy that could consume matter If it became more powerful

Then Randidly couldn’t help but wonder if there was a connection between her rapid improvement and her status as the disciple of Haelthing the Devourer Had she like him spent a large amount of time inside an area with time dilation and grown powerful before the tournament Had she been able to ignore the dangers of a waning connection to a village

Still Randidly didn’t believe that their situations were the same Too many strange coincidences occurred in his rise to his current position for him to believe that it was a common happening 100 small things that pushed him in a certain direction culminating in him creating a world inside of himself that functioned as a Soul Skill

Hundreds of small nudges

didly Ghosthound

Randidly blinked then gritted his teeth and sat upwards forcing himself to his feet With an apologetic look the referee glanced over towards Randidly and their eyes met So this was why the referee seemed to be hopeless about his chances to recover He knew that Randidly’s would be the second match

He hadn’t even heard his opponent’s name but simply recognized his own But as he stood he saw a looming figure perhaps above 2 meters in height carrying a dark spear that was similar in size with Randidly’s obsidian monstrosity But then Randidly closed his eyes focusing on the walking

There wasn’t much time but he did have about 60 seconds before he would be up on stage and the fight would begin In that time

Aether began to whirl through his body There was even a faint disturbance in the air around him which caused some of the other participants to look up sharply and then become confused as they saw nothing but a wounded preliminary qualifier But there was still a strange feel in the air as if something very important had occurred there

Beneath Randidly spreading out below him was a huge network of golden roots stretching out further and further sinking deeper into the earth dragging up the energy of the land to fuel his recovery as much as possible The bonus was rather small all things considered but having Golden Roots of Yggdrasil active increased the efficacy his Vitality had when aiding recovery And of all of his physical stats his Vitality was the most impressive

Although his HP had returned to levels that were acceptable for the fight that wasn’t the concern here Instead Randidly’s body was littered with lingering structural damage from his fight earlier Not only was the strange needle spear that his opponent had used fast and powerful but it seemed to disseminate a strange energy that made it more difficult for his body to recover Although his health appeared acceptable his ability to move and react was severely hampered

But that golden light rushed up into him filling him with renewed vigor his bare feet dragging on the ground as he walked His stamina burned away quickly but his mana began to gather quickly returning to maximum He hadn’t used much in the previous match after all More and more faster and faster warmer and warmer hotter and hotter

Aether hummed inside of him seemingly satisfied as Randidly slowly ascended to the stage His opponent was waiting there but apparently not for long and apparently he felt nothing about Randidly’s somewhat tardy arrival

His opponent’s long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail that fell down from his staggering stature to the ground demonstrating a length that was somewhat impressive But what was most noticeable were his opponent’s eyes Dark and soft but extremely attentive as they seemed to devour every detail of his movements In a way this was the most unfortunate opponent for Randidly right now This man clearly truly viewed him as an opponent and wasn’t the type to become overconfident

Randidly wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry

Are both fighters ready The female referee asked The crowd cheered loudly and Randidly could discern chants of Kill the Prince’ among the fanbase But he also saw Claptrap’s henchmen selling concessions food which gave him a small glimmer of a smile

And at that moment Randidly’s smile widened because he knew that he was not alone and he reached and touched the connections he had to Sam Mrs Hamilton Annie and Alana His plant children Arbor and Thorn Thin cooler lines of energy joined the golden whirlpool that was rushing towards him slowly mending his body

His opponent nodded seriously eyes glittering Coughing as his stamina hit zero Randidly also nodded basically devoid of his ability to move But his body felt whole and healthy and Second Wind was humming along steady

Then begin The woman announced

Chapter 218

Randidly sat down immediately after the match started exhausted

His opponent raised his eyebrow Do you concede

Randidly folded his hands and closed his eyes No I do not concede

Then why do you sit His opponent said with a frown his dark eyes crinkling

Because this is the best way to win Randidly raised his hand and unleashed an Incinerating Bolt that rushed forward a scarlet blur that was aimed at one of his opponent’s knees Perhaps a more direct shot would inflict more damage but at this point Randidly’s main focus was incapacitating and giving himself some room to breath

But his opponent simply snorted and lowered his spear a huge metallic grey slab of metal and intercepted the bolt It ricocheted howling off to the side crashing into the empty space around the arena throwing up a cloud of dust His opponent frowned looking down at his spear where there remained a slightly red portion from the heat and a small dent

With glowing eyes the spear user looked up at Randidly You are a mage

It was not a question so Randidly didn’t bother answering Instead he raised his hand and fired two more Incinerating Bolts aiming for his opponent’s gut and shoulder Apparently realizing what this could devolve into his opponent began to thunder forward his huge legs exploding with power and allowing him to rush through the barrage of bolts

The bolts hit his weapon again once more leaving small dents which made the spear user frown but Randidly knew that it would take a long time to deal a significant blow to the spear although each of these dents was a slowly growing weakness

Know that the name of the man who defeated you His opponent thundered as he rumbled forward Is Bertarn Yish

The very air shook with his voice This Bertarn was a different sort of monster than Azriel Where she had been speed and precision Randidly had no doubt that this man was strength and endurance A monstrous unstoppable momentum Incinerating Bolt was a direct targeted spell and probably the one of Randidly’s that did the most damage in a small space It was concentrated Yet it was still not enough