LoRG 1

Randidly supposed it was good then that his highest mental stat was not Intelligence It was Control

Root Control Randidly murmured And roots surged upwards heeding his call

Bertarn frowned slightly as the roots surged upwards out of nowhere but his pace didn’t slow That was not his way It was surprising that this strange spear mage seemed able to utilize both flame and plant spells but it mattered little in the face of true power It was simply a smoke screen and Bertarn had a hard time believing that he would have enough time behind the roots in order to salvage this situation

Even before the match had started it was clear to Bertarn that his opponent was in poor shape After all he had been given to the Azriel the Hungry Needle Although she was not the favorite to win the Regional Tournament she was definitely the only individual who had hopes of defeating the favorite

As for Bertarn in his stoic way he had accepted that he was battling for entrance into the top 4 of the tournament and it was an especially brutal match There were 10 or so individuals at his level of strength or near it that would compete for those unclaimed two spots at the top And now there was his current opponent the Ghosthound and that other red haired woman who had grasped victory against Ivitri

Bertarn’s spear swept sideways severing through the flailing mass of roots that rushed towards him basically levelling it As he did so several roots ripped outward from the severed mass stabbing towards him At first he snorted but then his eyes widened as he sensed a not insignificant amount of spear intent from those roots

These they had the power to scratch him

So Bertarn sidestepped avoiding them and slashed again with his spear destroying what remained of the quickly regrowing roots But as he did so his neck tingled and he stepped forward avoiding the stabbing roots aiming for his back advancing towards the area where his opponent must be

But as he stepped several roots twined around his foot and smashed it sideways aiming to destroy his stance At the same time several other attacks rushed upwards roots ripping towards his exposed areas

Bertarn’s eyes flashed This level of control This spear mage was truly fearsome

Still it wasn’t enough As soon as the pressure arrived on his foot Bertarn smashed his foot towards the ground He calculated repositioning his body slightly so the stabbing roots would only skid off of his skin His natural Endurance should be enough to deflect indirect blows

To his surprise when his foot hit the ground it smashed through and into a hole that had been prepared for it Even as he twisted the stabbing roots curved aiming to hit his weak points directly Furious Bertarn smashed again with his spear destroying what remained of the root bush revealing his opponent the Ghosthound

He was standing there calmly his eyes a chilly green spear at the ready a small smile on his face

Several roots punctured through his skin thrashing towards his insides but Bertarn just flexed his muscles and frowned a powerful dominating aura of a mountain emerging behind him To be forced to use his image in a situation like this it was truly admirable But this was the end

But as he reached to grab his spear with his off hand Bertarn discovered that it was bound by roots It would take but a second to throw those off but that was time that he didn’t have The Ghosthound struck and a strange ticking filled the air Slowly a woman manifested itself a woman who was half flesh half skeleton and began to float towards Bertarn

Not enough time His hand on his spear flexed and he swung his huge weapon to meet the oncoming thrust even as an air of hopelessness and frustration filled the air

The blows met and even though his was only a one armed off balance swing as his foot was stuck in a hole Bertarn was surprised to find them evenly matched Further surprising him the Ghosthound stepped forward his emerald eyes burning pressing forward overpowering him further

Bertarn gritted his teeth If he had to he would use

But strangely the Ghosthound’s strength very quickly waned and Bertarn struck smashing his opponent backwards More roots stabbed upwards but they had clearly lost some of their edge as their master was sent stumbling backwards Bertarn rose his spear rising with him

A series of clever ploys were useful but it was shallow The Ghosthound was either weak or still too wounded from his previous battle to continue

Honestly it didn’t matter He still had a job to do Although he disdained it Bertarn still would follow the instruction of his Style’s vice leader and break some of his opponent’s bones before he knocked him out of the ring They must send a message Bertarn personally must reclaim some of his sense of unstoppable strength

Those emerald eyes locked on him as he approached practically glowing What would be truly satisfying about this Bertarn mused to himself was that his opponent would not surrender or drop his spear That was what those eyes screamed to him They declared their vicious rejection of this outcome a refusal to accept the loss

Although Bertarn could not do it now this was a spear user deserving of acknowledgement even though he had chosen to become a mage His strength was still real

But that was for later Now for the lesson

Groaning Randidly woke again a familiar face frowning down at him

The benefit of going early in the 3rd round is that you will have another hour until the 4th round begins The bearded referee said eyeing at the strange angles that Randidly’s left leg was bent

Randidly said nothing grinding his teeth At the last moment as he was pushing that completely over muscled spear user backwards with Stalemate Breaker and Empower his small Stamina pool that was regenerated in the short time his roots bought him ran out leaving him practically helpless

The amount of time that Bertarn had taken to rip through his screen of roots was intimidating to say the least Although it wasn’t similiar Randidly felt like the spear user that he had defeated in the first round completely overwhelmed by the other’s strength It was a wake up call in a way

Sighing Randidly laid back and stared at the ceiling Allowing his wounds to slowly heal His head was pounding slightly ringing from some of the previous blows So this this was truly his relative level There were perhaps other methods he could utilize but it would be difficult now as he had 2 losses He could not afford another one Not for quite a while

He closed his eyes and began to meditate One fight at a time He needed to win the 4th match of today and secure his survival before he worried about anything else God he could use a nice massage Or a day off

Chapter 219

Perhaps it was due to his previous matches against overwhelming individuals but Randidly’s 4th match was somewhat of a letdown His opponent was a woman with short brown hair and a long flexible spear She came at him with very efficient weaving of attacks striking at odd angles moving in unpredictable patterns

But Randidly had methods of keeping her honest With his participation in the tournament on the line Randidly freely used his spells using Incinerating Bolts and Spearing Roots to keep her off her game and then approaching her and overpowering her physically

Perhaps there was something about passing through the preliminary but aside from Bertarn who was a monster in his own right it seemed Randidly could rely on his strength somewhat in direct contact with these opponents The disciples of the powerful Styles were perhaps more intelligent about their stat distribution so they kept all of their physical stats near each other and likely put some into mental stats to affect the sharpness of their decisions

Still even though he slowly overwhelmed and defeated his opponent the opponent’s spear strikes and the image ladened strike she eventually revealed were intimidatingly sharp There was still a difference in levels when it came to their ultimate moves Randidly was able to mitigate the damage with other things but

As Randidly left the arena for the day heading out the back to his surprise he was stopped

You did not break Azriel stood there hands on her hips looking at him with a strange expression on her face This you even were crushed again by Bertarn yes Yet you still continue interesting

The girl seemed just like a normal albeit very attractive girl as she walked up and began poking him with her finger Randidly shivered slightly she was poking the exact spots where her needle had ripped through him earlier

Then she stepped back If you survive tomorrow come find me

Blinking at the departing figure her white hair swinging Randidly could only wonder what just happened Then he shrugged A problem for another day There were more pressing issues to address

When he arrived back at the inn Shal was already waiting with folded arms Based on his expression he had come to the same conclusion that Randidly had he was currently missing something Shal said nothing for a long while and then said My father well it is enough No longer must you read only the 1st and 5th pages of the Diary Read it straight through Find a weapon in its pages For if you do not

Again there were several seconds of silence those level of enemies must be overcome if you are to make it into the top 4

Randidly frowned I thought it was only the top 8

There was a strange ugly expression on Shal’s face It was a face full of bitterness as you say Then he left leaving Randidly alone

Randidly put that strange matter to the side This was not something that he could address yet anyways the difference between Top 8 and Top 4 Right now he simply needed to make it to the tournament portion of the fight And already having 2 losses meant the rest of his run had to be perfect

But the day had been long but fruitful Truly nothing spurred growth like the pressure of struggle

Randidly had gained 3 Skill Levels in Spear Mastery 4 in Root Control 2 in Spearing Roots and Physical Fitness 5 lvls in Meditation 1 in Eyes of the Spear Phantom 7 in Bacterial Regeneration and Second Wind 3 in Superiority and Incinerating Bolt 4 in Spear Phantom’s Footwork 2 in Dodge and Fighting Proficiency 3 in Empower and Stalemate Breaker 1 in Calculated Blow 6 in Flesh Eating Virus 7 in Golden Roots of Yggdrasil 2 in Grace and Flexibility of the White Hunters 3 in Rejection and Mana Strengthening and 7 in Struggle

Combined with some PP that he had earned the night prior after cashing in Randidly now had 78 PP Which was enough to finish his current path and then also put his Soul Skill up to 200 which would give him both of the remaining benefits The first 5 PP that were put in finished off his Initiate of Ash I Path

Congratulations You have completed the Initiate of Ash I Path A trail of desolation lies before you Above you is the volcano To come and witness the majesty of your Patron energies begin to infuse your body But you know this is only the halfway point should you choose to become an Anointed of Ash Strength +3 Intelligence +3 Reaction +3 A more difficult path lays before you traveler Go with care

Randidly frowned The bonuses were in useful places but rather small But more than that He peered at his new path menu

Heretic XII 0/ 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 Initiate of Ash II 0/150 Bacterial Mutation I 0/125

Randidly grimaced There were simply too many desirable options and his 73 remaining PP was only enough to finish of Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 It wasn’t all that desirable of an option either way The two new arrivals were the second half of the Initiate of Ash Path and the Bacterial Mutation I Path both of which drew Randidly There was also the Path of Control which was still his highest and most used stat as an option Although it didn’t really draw on it directly Randidly’s spear work had always been more graceful and delicate than his skills could explain They were likely aided by that high Control stat

Increasing that would help him But Journeyman was a Path that would provide him with skills That would increase his PP but likely do nothing for him in the short term Agony could perhaps give him some gifts Bacterial Mutation was an intriguing new addition which was likely due to his high Bacterial Regeneration skill but the inclusion of Mutation made Randidly somewhat wary

All of these paths were investments that would pay off at a later date He would likely not be able to get 20 PP tonight not with how sore and battered his whole body was even with his powerful regeneration abilities He might spend his time pouring over the full version of the Spear Phantom’s journal but Randidly wasn’t sure how much good it would do

Then sighing Randidly made his decision What had truly decided the day had rid him of that persistent violent energy that Azriel had injected into his body and gotten him back on his feet in the wake of Bertarn was his regeneration If he could push that to the next level that was his advantage it always was His unrelenting determination

Randidly put PP in Bacterial Mutation I and every 5 PP he received 1 point in Vitality which was an amazing return for this level of Path And after putting 23 PP into it he received another notification which made him smile in satisfaction

Congratulations Your Soul Skill has released the Blessing of Fetid Growth upon you Vitality +3 Control +6 Resistance +3 Endurance +3 Your body increases in size by 1% Your body compacts retaining efficacy but decreasing in size by 5% Health Regeneration increases by 15

For a second nothing happened Then Randidly’s body began throb and pulse It was actually a profoundly enjoyable experience His muscles bulged and flexed his bones creaking and stretching his tendons elongating Then everything tightened slightly and pressed back downwards his body returning nearer to his original state The feelings passed quickly and Randidly looked down at his fist feeling the power pumping through his body

Then he smiled bitterly It was a step in the right direction but it would not take him within striking distance of the two individuals he had faced in his 2nd and 3rd matches It was the same sort of qualitative difference that Randidly had undergone through his training in the prison area

Well perhaps a little less than that He was getting very near to them in terms of physical capabilities but he believed there was a profound difference in terms of image and skill level That was the oppressive weight that being an Artisan possessed Even though Randidly had fought successfully against one before that was an average fighter who had reached that peak and had allowed himself to regress through laziness These groomed young geniuses likely had higher rarity skills and better training even though they had less experience

Randidly made a mental note to ask Shal how exactly rarities were determined and turned back to himself He put the remaining 50 pp into his skill earning even more Vitality Then he received the 4th and he believed final notification that his Soul Skill would give him

Congratulations Your Soul Skill has released the Blessing of Devouring Ash upon you Strength +3 Willpower +9 Focus +3 Your body temperature increases Your immune system grows more robust resistance to all status ailments and debuffs increases by 1% Free stats +3

The world of your soul skill turns The denizens of your inner world evolve A matriarch appears amongst the White Hunters Her eyes rise to the sky as she searches for you the Soul of the world that animates them

Hobgolems arise amongst the Earth Golem people Their cunning and strength lead to the formation of tribes across the land

Very few of the Swamp Spiders grow old and wise and become Weavers and they begin to record the history of this realm in their intricate webs

The clever Spriggits discover the power of steam and their technology bursts forward bringing with it progress and prosperity As a people they grow rich and happy

As the world turns Arbor and Thorn become more deeply involved in its function Their connection grows deeper and their strength grows as the world evolves Due to their influence small animal life has been brought to your world

It has been one cycle since this world’s creation Would you like to add anything to the world (Warning the added qualities will be taken from a skill A single skill level will be consumed in the taking Other side effects are unknown)

Chapter 220

Randidly sat back on his heels looking at the notification Although he had expected the theme of the final Blessing its form still had some pleasant surprises in it But more than that the fact that his Soul Skill appeared to be evolving was more interesting The connection to Arbor and Thorn even more so

Curious he brought up his menu relating to them and was shocked to discover that the menu was grayed out As he focused on it the menu displayed a tip that his connection to them was blocked by their connection to his Soul Skill Which did explain why he hadn’t seen a level from either of them in a while but

They had added things to his world And now he had the possibility to add something to the world based on his skills But it would consume a skill level and have some other side effects It was a slightly intimidating but Randidly didn’t want to pass up this chance

The prospect of side effects to any of his skills were slightly intimidating but ultimately Randidly decided to risk it and use his Farming Skill to influence the world It was a relatively noncommittal skill and shouldn’t rock the boat too much It was also a skill he hadn’t used much but he was willing to risk it because its concrete usefulness was much less than it had been earlier in the dungeon

It was a sad realization that he was so far beyond that level His strength was legitimate He could truly rely on it to live currently Well perhaps not to survive in some environments but if he wanted to stop and step back from the violence he wouldn’t have a problem That was within his grasp

Randidly’s smile was barren like a desert That might be so but he would not choose this path He had gone too far he felt too much responsibility for his town on Earth and too much cold fury for the System and its progenitors The being at the top and the creature that was hiding from it He would grow until he could rip it all to shreds

So Randidly selected Farming and watched as his Skill Level dropped by one Grimacing Randidly was forced to grab ahold of the wall to steady himself It was a decidedly uncomfortable feeling to lose a skill level Truly it was a sense of loss His heart felt empty and bitter and it was a jagged soulful pain that throbbed in his chest But some strange energy flowed out from that and into the World of his Soul Skill

Intrigued despite the pain Randidly focused on the Soul Skill and his attention shifted to his inward world There he watched as that energy spread out into seeds that dotted the landscape and very slowly small plants grew from that ground It was different types in different areas but universally those plants began to flower and show fruit Slowly the four indigenous populations took note and began to investigate

Randidly came back to himself a strange expression on his face So just like that farming was introduced to his world It all seemed too easy But he supposed the translation of that skill was much easier than some others which would explain why everything happened so fast

One of the great limitations of population sizes was food These plants combined with the small animals introduced by Arbor and Thorn would likely spur population growth Which was good by itself but

Randidly feared that war would quickly come to his Soul Skill

Then he laughed and shook his head ruefully He was getting awfully far ahead of himself One problem at a time The changes in his soul skill were interesting but they weren’t worth dwelling on for too long They did very little to help him overcome the challenges at hand now that he had spent all of his PP

On the other hand Randidly looked at the diary of the Spear Phantom his eyes glowing

Was this fear Shal wondered looking at his hand His fingers trembled slightly so he let them drop to the table

His time in the other dungeon had done a lot to address the issues of his Aether Sickness but it was only a shallow covering He could now go about his day quite easily but if he drew too much on his truth strength to fight that crippling weakness would soon return

But there was a more pressing problem Shal’s fear of the very weakness that was now plaguing him had driven him to leave the prison and bring his disciple back to the tournament and it was now clear that it had been done prematurely Although Randidly appeared to have hit a wall in his training it would have been better to allow the fool to slam his head against that wall a few more times to push his boundary even higher

Randidly was not currently equipped to fight against opponents at this level He was at a decided disadvantage Sighing Shal leaned against the wall

In his desperation he had told the boy to read the entire diary But what would that accomplish Shal himself had attempted that very thing but even after all of these years he had been able to accomplish little It wasn’t as noticeable in the past but that really rankled now

Shal had also come to the conclusion that something very strange had been going on with him these past 30 years It was like he had been living in a cloud barely noticing the world around him But then out of the blue he had an impulse to enter into a dungeon And coincidentally he had met this boy there a boy that he had decided on a whim to train a boy who had somehow solved his problem that kept him locked in a dungeon for a few weeks

Although Shal admitted that he had problems with handling Willpower attacks mostly due to never facing them it was still exceedingly strange that he had been so hit by them especially now His Willpower stat hadn’t improved by much but his Battle Intent now cut through those attacks like a hot knife through butter What had happened to transform him so fully

Or more likely what had been holding him back in the past

There was a knock at the door Shal blinked slowly and then walked over and twisted the lock The door swung open to reveal the determined face of his student

Shal The fool always so serious said with a concerned expression What are the 6 skills of the Spear Phantom Style

Shal frowned annoyed and waved his fingers Do you not have the diary Can you not read Don’t ask me questions that you can answer yourself

But to Shal’s surprise his student shook his head No this is important Please

I must really be worried if I’m indulging this ’ Shal thought sluggishly to himself but let Randidly into the room

Fine The first skill is as you know the Thrust of the Spear Phantom A skill you have

His disciple nodded but there was a strange gleam in his eyes So Shal continued The Second is the Spear Phantom’s Approach which you acquired a bastardized version of the Phantom Half Step The Third is Spear Phantom’s Whispered Cut The Fourth is the Spear Phantom’s Weeping Execution The Fifth as you know is the Spear Phantom’s Embrace The Sixth is the Spear Phantom’s Breath

As Shal continued to speak his disciple’s eyes grew wider and wider but they didn’t lose their manic gleam It was that confidence Shal knew that drew him to the boy That willingness to believe in himself and the guts to follow through on his instincts What Shal didn’t expect was for the idiot to follow up with an extremely strange question

Shal where to skill rarities come from

Skill rarities Shal said grumpily but sighed inwardly at the pleading look in his disciple’s eyes So he just snorted and then answered Rarities are hard to predict sometimes But they are related to complexity and the path the System predicts you take with them They are also considered more rare the more complete they are The more parts are working together

His disciple’s eyes crinkled into a smile and he stood and bowed thanking Shal before hurrying off

Shal watched him go with dissatisfaction It was good to be enthusiastic but if he simply lost in the first round tomorrow everything would be for naught Shal huffed in annoyance and then his eyes narrowed

He didn’t truly care about the honor of Aemont No now that he smelled blood all he cared about was one thing The chance to crush the woman who had destroyed his family piece by piece Shal’s face curled up in a crooked smile

Even he had been broken by the meddlings of Lucretia

Sitting on the ground Randidly’s heart was pounding as he flipped to the 5th page of the diary Upon reading the diary as a whole something struck Randidly weren’t a lot of skills missing

As Randidly read through the text of the page the world slowly fell away and a Phantom appeared before him possessing the face reminiscent of Shal Aemont slowly floated closer his eyes oppressively powerful

The footwork of the Spear Phantom Ghastly Slash Eyes of the Spear Phantom Phantom Thrust Phantom Half Step All of these skills were partially represented in the Book but they seemed incomplete when compared to the rest of the skills

Aemont floated closer moving with an impossible grace and unpredictability His presence filled the air hitting Randidly like a physical weight forcing him marginally backward with just his empty and mild gaze

It could be true that they were bastardized versions of the skills but perhaps perhaps it was something else

As Aemont arrived before Randidly the weight of his gaze only grew more vicious smashing against Randidly’s will daring him to move backwards to expose him to the power of the Spear Phantom’s Embrace But with gritted teeth Randidly held firm He refused to give in

The final clue was the rarity information All of Randidly’s skills he had inherited were common completely basic And Shal had told him that what mattered partially in terms of rarity were the completeness of a skill the amount of parts

Which was perhaps why the Spear Advances Ash Trails was part of such a rare Skillset It contained multiple parts The speed of movement the piercing spear the concussive force

Aemont stood directly in front of Randidly and slowly spread his arms revealing his chest

Perhaps Randidly as well as Shal before him were trying to learn the skill from scratch But they already had the pieces They just needed to be used in the right way

Randidly simultaneously activated Eyes of the Spear Phantom and Footwork of the Spear Phantom floating forward pressing vicious hopelessness outward with his Battle Intent He also used the insights he gleaned from watching the Aemont Phantom in the past striking at weaknesses in his stance to force him backwards

It was a brief and brutal mental battle

But within seconds Randidly was suffocated and smashed backwards instantly knocked out of the intent world left within the diary He hadn’t even lasted long enough for that strange face to come out But notifications were waiting for Randidly and they made him smile a wide smile Finally he had it Or at least he hoped so A weapon of his own that could clash against the disciples of the powerful Styles

Congratulations You have inherited the Skill Set The Six Signs of the Spear Phantom ® Your skill The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Lvl 79 has been accepted as the First Sign Your skills Eyes of the Spear Phantom Lvl 77 and Spear Phantom’s Footwork Lvl 102 as well as a partially created skill have been combined to form the Spear Phantom’s Embrace ® Some level decay has occurred You have gained The Spear Phantom’s Embrace ® Lvl 133 the Fifth Sign of the Spear Phantom

Randidly looked at a new line that had appeared in his Status Page

The 6 Signs of the Spear Phantom ® The First Sign The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Lvl 79 (Un) The Fifth Sign The Spear Phantom’s Embrace ® Lvl 133

It was now his highest level skill And it might be a small thing but It also included a Rare tag which Randidly believed was a testament to its power Randidly stepped and almost teleported sideways He opened his eyes and focused and the details in the room became incredibly clear In addition he felt the heavy feeling in the air as he looked as if his gaze would slowly strip away the surrounding and reveal all to him

It was satisfying having all of his skills improved by combining them But Randidly knew that his image was still weak

But he also knew the night was young and this discovery seemed to wash away all of his physical wariness

Chapter 221

At dawn Claptrap awoke his back still sore and his eyes bleary Warily he sat up The pounding at the door which had awoken him in the first place sounded again Sighing Claptrap got up and hobbled to the door

The door swung open revealing the female brewer who had a serious expression on her face We don’t have enough stock if the sales from the first day repeat And we expect them to only increase as more people come to watch the tournament

Claptrap yawned widely The brewer seemed annoyed But by the time he finished the yawn and closed his mouth Claptrap had his answer There is a low level dungeon near here correct Gather a group of mercenaries and head in setting up a brewery by the entrance It won’t be perfect but it should give us some more stock by the afternoon

Abruptly Claptrap trailed off lost in other thoughts The bleariness from his eyes slowly faded replaced by a focused determination He opened his mouth again Take that 300 gold we set aside for ingredients for the next batch and use it immediately Make it as extravagant as you can Experiment But make sure that at least half of it will be palatable We just need to find some signature types

His explanation continued and the brewer nodded fervently As he dismissed her two other people had arrived at his door looking distraught Claptrap shook his head sorrowfully Truly it was difficult to be at the top

The first question was about distribution which Claptrap was able to solve pretty quickly The second question however

The portable sales people are demanding higher compensation A few silvers a day won’t satisfy them not with how much business they did yesterday We already had worries about stolen money based on low revenue for volume and now they do this

Gesturing impatiently the aide followed Claptrap into his room where he began to wash his face which was scrunched up as he thought about the problem What would the Ghosthound do in this situation

Claptrap’s face brightened Tell the vendors we hear their complaints and are switching from a flat payment rate to one done by commission They more they sell the more they will get paid This way their payments are based on the revenue that they bring back In addition those with the best sales will have preference in choosing which sections they will service and also begin secretly keeping count of the amount of product each individual takes Having a little waste is fine but if it continues Well

Claptrap’s eyes were grim but then he struggled to control his shock as his aide shivered at his words before bowing and leaving Claptrap turned to the mirror and looked at himself Nothing had really changed his individual strength hadn’t grown But in terms of the amount of people who worked under him and the amount of money he had at his disposal

It dawned on him how others could see this as a truly profound power

After getting dressed he headed to their headquarters where he was intercepted by 6 other people with small issues on the way Truthfully most of them weren’t issues per se but simply decisions to be made Some of them Claptrap addressed but others he responded with some version of deal with it however you wish I’ll be waiting to hear of the positive results leaving the questioner sweating and nervous unsure of what to do

One thing that the Ghosthound had told him is that leaders of large companies (which was apparently the word for what Claptrap now had) had three roles and they had very little to do with the day to day running of the company The first was supplying the vision which Claptrap had done

The second was selecting mid level managers They would be the on the ground problem solvers and they would make or break the performance of the company So Claptrap gave these individuals small tests to see how they would fair He already had a small notebook filled with names and facts about the few people who had responsibility under him and what they had done with it

The final role

Sir the representative from the Ceramics Association is here to see you An assistant said hurrying up next to him Claptrap nodded

The final role is to be the face of the company

The representative of the Ceramics Association was a bitter hunched crone whose stare fixed on Claptrap filled with disdain She spoke with something akin to pity You want a special sort of mug

A Commemorative Mug Claptrap said slowly And also mugs for some of the higher ranked participants we want to allow our customers to display proudly which of the contestants they support through their mug If it could be finished by today

The crone seemed dissatisfied Such a rush job tsk tsk truly youth rush headlong into problems Well I suppose at 29 silver a unit we can get you 100 by the end of the day but next time

I’ve already prepared artist renderings Claptrap interrupted pushing some papers towards the representative from the Ceramics Association And I’m willing to offer you a full gold for each done by noon 40 Silver for any finished by the end of the day In terms of units We would like 5000 of the plain mugs and 500 each for these 10 individuals By the end of the day

That that A full gold How can you The money The crone stammered peering at the different drawings

Claptrap just smiled

It took a while but the crone calmed down and began speaking to Claptrap much more deferentially This was more business than she had ever done at one time in the past more than they had done in the last year It was a matter of scale of their organization

But Claptrap offered to provide some of the funds up front pushing them to expand their organization

Right before she left the crone gazed down at the drawings seemingly stuck on something

Is there a problem

Well no but I recognize these other Styles but this one I’ve never heard of it before and it is supposed to be emerald Isn’t that a bit I wouldn’t want such a valued customer to waste all this effort if this no name spear user is eliminated before the final tournament

Claptrap laughed In terms of bets rest assured he is the safest one I have made It has been a pleasure but I really must be going Other preparations to see to you understand Feel free to see yourself out I’ll send someone over at noon to see how the production is proceeding

Helen breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth focusing on her form She felt it the strange strength and undulations of her river flowing through her body filling her moves with sharpness and strength It was a power that filled her with a heady rush

Part of her sudden improvement was the small bit of Aether she seemed to have gotten from the Ghosthound when they uh made their exchange but the other half was being able to watch so many high level matches The passes that Claptrap obtained as de facto food and ale sponsor for the event allowed Helen to proceed into the very well situated sections giving her an unrivaled view of the action It was oddly intoxicating being so close to those who she had once considered so far away If her family could see her now

She positively jumped surprised by the interruption Very few people came up onto the roof area for training in the mornnig especially since the Regional Tournament had started She turned to find Randidly walking calmly towards her Instead of his typical large obsidian spear he had a slim one of bone

Yea She said trying her best to not show her annoyance and make him want to crawl away into a corner and die with a glare Ultimately these two goals effectively canceled each other and Randidly walked closer a thoughtful expression on his face

Can we spar I’d like to try something

Helen bit back a snarky retort and nodded adjusting her stance to face him It would be good she reflected to herself to work out some of her annoyance and attraction and extra energy all at once by smashing his face in Helen knew that he had gotten stronger and his spells put him on a level where she couldn’t defeat him but if they relied solely on spear skills with her increase in power

But as he walked towards her the air seemed to quiet and then go dark He was relaxed but there was a baleful aura of death that hung around him rooting her to the ground Slowly a smile crossed his face and Helen shivered A strange ticking filled the air and she felt dread settle down around her shoulders

This this

His eyes glowed a devilish emerald

This was the Ghosthound

Chapter 222

A few hours later Helen sat in the most prestigious area of the arena gazing at the second arena Based on information that was where Randidly would be fighting his first match But still Helen was quite dissatisfied because she was not the reason that they had ended up here In fact she was just a guest

Bahahaaha Aethon Thai thundered slapping the male spear attendant’s back who giggled childishly as he dropped the glass cups he had been juggling due to inebriation An attendant quickly stepped forward and swept it up also providing another glass full of ale which Aethon began to enthusiastically slurp Drunk and giddy the male spear attendant swayed on his feet and burped

Helen wanted to die But this was the best place to view the Ghosthound and after what she had seen earlier Helen was decidedly interested in getting another look without having to face it directly In addition she was curious what these great men the heads of the powerful Styles here in Deardun would say in regards to his performance

There were 7 or 8 either patriarchs or matriarchs or even vice leaders of the Styles around joking jovially and enjoying their food and beverage They commented briefly on matches but they didn’t pay them much mind Perhaps mostly because the favorites those raised by the larger Styles kept winning There was no reason to pay very much attention to the predictable outcomes

Perhaps that was another reason why she was here Helen thought with an inward sneer To see the Ghosthound fuck up their perspective on strength

Another match ended and as the name Randidly Ghosthound was one of those called to ascend To his credit even through his inebriety the male spear attendant straightened and looked towards the stage with a serious expression

Aethon looked amused Starstruck by beauty Many a lesser man has had their hearts captured by this woman from the Viper Sunstrike Style Derrita how do you manage all of that attention

Truthfully the woman who was standing opposite the Ghosthound was quite lovely with long golden hair and a classically beautiful face One of the old women sitting in their group who appeared to be from the Viper Sunstrike Style huffed in annoyance

Truthfully it is a struggle Luckily the girl is dedicated to the spear or else Hopefully this opponent has enough strength to at least make her serious she’s had too easy of a time thus far I suspect she will make it all the way to the final tournament with ease at this rate

She going to lose

Helen blinked turning and looking at the male spear attendant who had apparently shaken off most of his drunk and was watching the stage with serious eyes The powerful heads of the Styles stiffened as Derrita’s face became increasingly red glaring at his uncaring back

Aethon Thai shook his head chuckling and attempted to make the peace Hoo you have had quite a bit to drink lad Sure that boy passed through the preliminaries and he has a bright future as a spear user ahead of him But

mm Suddenly inebriated again the male spear attendant collapsed against the railing and leaned his head against the metal The group laughed and Derrita still looked annoyed but she wouldn’t push the issue further given Aethon’s intercession

Helen shivered Truthfully the power of backing was unrivalled But her attention narrowed as the referee announced the start of the match The two spear users began to circle each other their weapons raised

Around her the older generation payed very little attention to the match They missed the Ghosthound’s first step which was so sharp that his opponent’s eyes widened and she began to retreat

But this was not a race that this girl could win The Ghosthound moved and the distance between them absolutely disappeared There were strange reverberations to the air and his advance was steady and vicious

Finally realizing the futility of it and refusing to allow his momentum to build any further the female spear user stopped and made a stand preparing to cross blows The Ghosthound struck once twice and both times it was rebuffed by a marvelous defense Feeling more confident in her strikes the woman advanced and the Ghosthound slashed with his spear

Again the woman smoothly raised her spear to meet the blow but then her eyes widened as it seemed like a portion of its swing was entirely skipped and it had arrived early Her defense was much more hasty and she was knocked partially off balance

The Ghosthound advanced but this time the air was thick with power and Helen swore she could faintly see traces of his image in the air But around her the elder generation continued to chat heedless

Although it made her grind her teeth she said nothing Helen was not so foolish as to speak out here with only the feeble support of Aethon as drinking buddy of the male spear attendant to rely on Results would speak for themselves and this result was swiftly becoming clear The Ghosthound’s attacks sped up mightily from his initial salvo and his footwork became absolutely sublime

Overwhelmed the woman began to lash out and screamed mightily summoning her own image It was a blurry picture of some sort of yellow serpent but the fact that she could show that much showed her talent the Artisan boundary was only a hair away

Someone tsk’d behind Helen and the statement made her blood run cold

To think she would fall so easily for a Willpower attack I’ll double her training after this tournament Derrita harrumphed her eyes chilly The other elders nodded as if they agreed with the assessment

Could they truly have been observing the match this whole time while they were chatting Were they so far above her realm that she wasn’t even aware of their focus Or was this level of competition simply like an open book to them

So he was also a movement specialist Aethon mused while spinning a mug across his fingers Truly that boy is filled with surprises

The Ghosthound moved faster and faster striking more and more quickly and very soon the woman was covered in wounds Eventually while she gnashed her teeth she dropped her spear and surrendered saving her strength for the next match After all this was only her 2nd loss She could afford it The Ghosthound slowly lowered his weapon and then gazed at the ground with a frown

It seemed that he was still having trouble truly capturing it Helen’s spar with the Ghosthound had been mixed There were times where he was simply elusive but there was also a moment where it had felt like her heart would stop from the sense of dread the attack produced If he couldn’t get it to the point it was consistent there was no point

Although clearly the bonus to movement was extremely useful

One wizened old woman leaned forward adjusting her spectacles

So She said almost to no one in particular This is the inheritance of the Spear Phantom truly fascinating But still a hair short The boy needs more polish A few more matches

No one answered directly each engaged in side conversations and diversions but as Helen looked at the ground and spread her senses it was clear that there was a very hidden conversation going on between these heads of Style

The way they moved and sat the way they looked how their posture was they were jostling about something Something related to the Ghosthound And it appeared that whatever side the wizened woman was on was losing

It is truly only fair One man drawled sipping his mead If there are matches designed between the seeded individuals and the preliminary fights there must also be fights between two individuals from the preliminaries It is unavoidable although there is a certain amount of tragedy Do not the seeded individuals fight quite valiantly against each other

Aethon stood walking over to the male spear attendant and touching his back Well it seems you are a pretty good gambling man eh What do you think can this Randidly Ghosthound win against the only remaining individual from the preliminaries with one loss

The male spear attendant just nodded and then burped and then the whole crowd erupted with laughter and their talks seemed to move forward Was it that simple deciding the fate of another

Helen saw an attendant bow and leave walking towards the area where the referees congregated Helen felt very fucking strange as she watched that individual walk over She remembered very vividly watching the match between the Ghosthound and Dian who she assumed was the other individual from the preliminary that they were talking about To see them fighting again up on stage

Strangely all Helen felt was a bitter jealousy

What what am I doing here ’ She wondered When did I become a spectator ’

Chapter 223

Randidly sat meditating during the long break between the 1st and 2nd matches

It wasn’t a difficulty of execution it was a difficulty of balance and control Although the skills had merged and become one larger skill they still were activated relatively separately He needed to focus on his movements the image the feints and the mental attack all at once It felt almost impossible on its own

Still every portion itself had a vastly increased effectiveness so there were no real downsides to using the skill But it was frustrating that he kept failing to achieve the perfect balance while moving And the participants in the tournament were kept in the lower level along these benches so they couldn’t receive any help In that way it was fair for the seeded individuals remained here as well

But Randidly very much wanted to be underneath an open sky so he could use his raincloud and his concentration belt in conjunction to really nail down how they should be combined It hadn’t been easy but it had been much more manageable this morning with the belt Here he had access to neither and it was profoundly difficult to wrestle with the balance

What he needed really was experience Experience using the skill Training repetition Randidly had grown strong but that was through time He wasn’t the genius type who could pick something up instantly when given it He had to struggle his way forward

His mouth narrowed into a thin line Which was why Randidly was worried about the next match It wasn’t necessarily against a seeded individual but it could be And based on the fact that he was able to defeat that seeded girl earlier perhaps they would respond powerfully seeking to crush him and knock him out of the tournament

It was frustrating both to feel targeted and also to feel helpless before their attempts Randidly truly lacked the power to resist the upper level of these disciples He could only endure

At the point that he had completely dissected his experience in the past battle and would no longer gain anything more from dwelling on it Randidly switched to focusing on his image for the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil His mind traced through the powerful roots that stretched downward absorbing the strength from the ground beneath him but now his attention rose and he thought about himself the trunk of the tree the place where all these roots joined

It didn’t have to be perfect but he simply needed to focus on what that image was

Very quickly he lost himself in it feeling the disparate golden lines slowly knitting themselves together in one powerful golden band that would funnel energy into him It pulsed with power its light becoming more and more reserved yet somehow more concrete

Time slowly passed and when he heard his name Randidly smiled ruefully So they chose Dian for his opponent for this round How simplistic Did they know that they came from the same preliminary Or was it simply enough for them that they were two individuals from a preliminary who both remained in the tournament where most others had lost It also seemed like Dian was the one Prince who had won in spite of what they had thrown at her yesterday so perhaps this was a punishment for her as much as it was for him or even more so

Randidly ascended to the stage and was once more faced by the woman with fiery red hair Her gaze had been sharp and searching last time they met but now it was more determined and wary It might have been a function of what she had experienced to get to this point or maybe some of her resolve for vengeance had faded Either way the intensity remained

It’s been a while Randidly offered

Dian was silent her eyes burning She simply lifted her spear and pointed it towards his heart Randidly chuckled In a way it was relieving He wasn’t the type to want to talk before a fight He had simply done it because it seemed polite Everything would be decided by spears anyway why would they bother to communicate any other way

Are both fighters ready The referee asked and immediately Dian launched herself forward that strange vicious energy gathering around her as she charged towards Randidly

Randidly’s eyes narrowed The referee frowned but said nothing backing out of the way So it would stand huh So be it

Wall of Thorns Randidly called erecting a thick barrier in Dian’s path His eyes immediately narrowed and he lowered himself into a very grounded stance Golden Roots of Yggdrasil switched to the active mode and he felt hot power flood his limbs as his Stamina began to drain away at a huge clip

He focused forcing his will to conjure a palpable phantom for the Inevitable Phantom Arrives The woman’s face half bone and half sagging flesh wore a leery smile

As predicted Dian ripped through the Wall of Thorns that strange violent energy annihilating the obstacle her eyes scanning around For whatever reason whenever a screen was thrown up in the way everyone rushed forward with the idea that Randidly was running away and was using the screen to gain some space That somehow it was simply a distraction to buy him time

Randidly’s smile was sharp as his spear slid forward as he activated Haste Empower and Mana Strengthening to improve the power of the strike to a ridiculous degree His image smashed forward concrete and powerful and low dull ticking and sense of inevitability spreading towards her

When they had fought previously Randidly’s Battle Intent had been formless and general just an emerald cloud that he could use to protect and strengthen his attacks It was almost a separate muscle that he could operate with his will increasing the effectiveness of the blows Now his images had solidified becoming an order of magnitude more powerful That combined with the increases to his skill levels and stats made Randidly confident that he could overpower Dian

But truly when they clashed Randidly’s eyes narrowed Almost mirroring him Dian’s eyes narrowed her red hair framing her face like flowing blood Although Randidly’s images had gone through a qualitative leap Dian’s energy had also grown immensely It smashed into Randidly’s image doing its best to eat away at the edges

It almost seemed to overpower his image ripping slowly away at its effectiveness After all it was truly much easier to destroy something than it was build it Her energy had the strange devouring quality that enabled her to defeat images much stronger than herself In a way Randidly marvelled even more so than him Dian was designed to defeat these pampered disciples of Styles

Although he was strong she directly eliminated the effectiveness of their powerful skills and skill sets which was their claim to fame and pride at least at this level where everyone was limited by a level cap

Unfortunately for her she was facing Randidly

Although his image was almost completely destroyed by the time the strike landed that was only the image of the Inevitable Phantom Arrives underneath his feet the image of the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil burned with fervor filling him with power

The small satisfaction in Dian’s eyes as her energy ate away at Randidly’s image was swiftly replaced by shock as their spears crossed and she was smashed backwards with pure force But Randidly let it lie there and followed after her operating the Spear Phantom’s Embrace at full force passing through the space between them faster than should be possible

Furiously she flooded the air with her destructive energy but Randidly’s battle intent surged to meet it forming a protective cocoon around his body Both his skill level and Willpower had grown giving him more than enough to simply oversaturate Dian’s devouring energy for a time as he rushed forward If his exposure was stretched on for a time but Randidly wasn’t going to allow that to happen

Without bothering to form an image for the attack Randidly struck quickly smashing Dian around bruising and battering her body preventing her from regaining her stance Her fury clearly grew and the energy around her grew more palpable but Randidly just snorted

In terms of physical stats and passive skills Randidly suspected that none were his equal Where he really lacked was in terms of images For an image seemed to increase the power and effectiveness of an attack beyond the realm which statistics could explain by overlaying a powerful narrative on the movement

For Randidly not only was he stabbing with a spear but an Inevitable Phantom Arrived

Dian’s energy devoured that image somehow basically invalidating a lot of image based skills leaving only the physical statistics and technical acumen a spear user possessed In that regards she was confident and was able to fight the stunned spear users to a stand still

But to Randidly Such a tactic was useless

Finally after a good 30 seconds of beating her using his huge obsidian spear to leave large gashes across her body the bitterness in her sharp gaze reached the breaking point she gnashed her teeth at him But then she stepped back lowering her spear

I concede

Dian turned on her heel and left not even bothering to look at him

As his breathing returned to normal Randidly lowered his spear It made sense She was losing and it wasn’t because of Randidly’s little ploy earlier with the Wall of Thorns Randidly was simply a bad match for her But that last gaze that last look was filled with unwillingness

Randidly believed very strongly that she had another card another way to use that energy that could have perhaps turned the tables on him But she had refrained from using it

The only question was why

Chapter 224

Helen looked at the ceramic mug with a mixed expression It certainly had a weight and craftsmanship to it that spoke of wealth Claptrap seemed very excited about them so he had given her one of the new Ghosthound mugs His emerald and gold banner was emblazoned on the front of the cup with his name and Style on the backside

Helen turned it over On the bottom of the cup was a giant C which stood for Claptrap’s new company It was ostentatious but Helen could somewhat understand why people would be drawn to them Holding it felt like a constant statement She was a person who supported the Ghosthound

Helen blushed reflexively and resisted the urge to smash the heavy ceramic mug on the ground This motherfucker making her blush even when he was off on stage beating up another women

Which honestly turned Helen on more than she would like to admit but she consoled herself that

A familiar voice sent a spike of tension up her spine and she spun slowly to find a familiar face standing in front of her

Ikaas

Ikaas a younger female cousin on her mother’s side was looking at her with wide eyes The girl wasn’t quite as attractive as Helen’s mother or Helen but still had the same innocent eyes and feminine body that drew the lecherous eyes of men For that reason when they were little Ikaas would hang around Helen alot hiding behind her back

But as Helen grew and became more and more wild and impatient Ikaas’s reserved personality couldn’t survive near her any longer and they had slowly drifted apart But Helen still was relatively positively disposed towards her younger innocent cousin But her presence was still a shadow on Helen’s heart

Because Ikaas would never have come here alone

Oh Helen We’ve been so worried about you When you ran away from home the whole leatherworking district was searching Are you okay We need

Yes yes Helen said waving her hand as if to brush away the worry in Ikaas’ face I’m fine I ah became a spear attendant to a powerful individual It has only been a few weeks after all you guys didn’t need to get so worked up

Ikaas looked at her reprovingly You know how your mother is Especially when Kanan was pushing so hard toward marrying you

Helen wanted to vomit She knew the blessed son of the Style near their Leather District had his eyes on her for a long time She just hadn’t believed his family would stoop to allowing him to actually propose which was simultaneously an insult and a comfort But if Ikaas picked up on it too then word must have spread far without the Style stamping the rumors out

Your mother has fought hard for you you know you should thank her Ikaas added Giving you time to decide protecting your decision to consider

Helen snorted Well then thank her for me It’s good to have a few weeks of time before I get shacked up with some dickwad But I need to go Ikaas Tell her

Helen Ikaas said her innocent eyes widening comically You can’t if your mother knows I saw you and didn’t bring you back I I

Develop some backbone you stupid cow ’ Helen thought to herself but aloud she simply snorted Then as the many memories of protecting this girl when they were younger floated to the surface she could only sigh

And to her surprise Helen decided to go see her mother

Randidly breathed in the darkness of the underground room He only had a small amount of time between when the 2nd round ended and the 3rd round began to recover his strength He hadn’t expended much effort in the last match but he also hadn’t been able to get much practice with the Spear Phantom’s Embrace due to Dian’s weird skill

But that didn’t mean that it was a waste of time Randidly had gained 2 levels in Physical Fitness and Battle Intent 3 in Meditation and the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil 1 in Wall of Thorns 1 in Haste 2 in Heavy Blow and 1 in Second Wind and Bacterial Regeneration It wasn’t all that much in terms of the large hauls he had gotten the past few days but he had been knocked out for a couple of those breaks without giving him the chance to improve himself at all

Not that this really improved himself he could simply spend the PP which earned him 2 Vitality from his Path but nothing else But that extra bit was better than nothing

And very quickly the round was over There was a brief period where they tallied the different wins and losses and then the bearded referee stood before the remaining contestants and cleared his throat Randidly spared a glance for those around him It seemed like

This may be the final round of the qualifier Based on our current numbers we will have a few less than 40 fighters remaining after this next match should things ah go as we predict them If we are above 32 individuals we shall have the 4th round just for the individuals who have 2 losses Based on how many spaces we need those of you who have performed the best will be given a bye

The bearded referee eyed the crowd After that there will be a day of rest before the tournament will begin Do your best out there And even if your performance isn’t what you hoped for all of you here should still be proud of yourself You are the next generation of spear users You are the hope in the face of the rising Calamity Do not be too hard on yourself Train and gain experience and soon you will undoubtedly surpass your peers who had more luck early on in their careers

For some reason it seemed that the bearded man was looking directly at Randidly as he said this last line Then with great care he raised his scroll and read two names the first two who would fight first on the first stage

Drak Wyrd Randidly Ghosthound

Randidly perked up not just because of his name but because he recognized the other name His eyes narrowed into slits This

This opponent was the one that even the seeded fighters whispered about in fear The man who most believed would win the tournament without effort

Drak Wyrd

They stood as one and their eyes met Randidly was slightly taller than the opposite man but was slightly more slender while the other was covered in thick slabs of muscles Drak’s head was shaven and his expression was mild

Drak nodded and began to walk towards the stairs Frowning Randidly moved opposite him But to his surprise a person appeared not in front of him but in front of Drak

Azriel her blood red eyes and silver hair glaring daggers at Drak The two stopped and Randidly slowed confused Drak and Azriel quietly exchanged a few words and then parted Afterwards Azriel turned and looked at Randidly smiling at him in the way the creepy kid smiles at the pets of strangers

Randidly shivered and hurried up onto the stage

The referee standing there looked at them both Are the fighters ready

When they came face to face on the stage it was clear to Randidly that this opponent was strong His eyes were a dark mahogany a slippery chocolate darkness He wasn’t particularly handsome or refined or arrogant looking like Randidly would have associated with the number one favorite to win the tournament

He just seemed grounded and self assured which was somehow a thousand times more intimidating

But then Drak opened his mouth and spoke I concede

The Yeti’s bushy brows were furrowed He had sent his entire force out in front of him leaving the prison hoping to clear a path But when he left the portal with the last of his forces he found his connection to the others had been wiped out

They had been defeated

There were no bodies There was only a woman with long light purple hair clad in a thin white robe She smiled at him almost eager her smile inviting The Yeti’s heart grew cold

You do you dare interfere in the execution of Judgement

Yes Her answer was simple but her voice was breathy and damp like a breeze coming out of a cavern

The Yeti raised his hammers the gold engravings flashing Then accept that same fate

As he charged towards her time seemed to slow She laughed coquettishly then curtsied My name is Lucretia It is very nice to meet you Now be a doll and give me your Aether won’t you

Chapter 225

Randidly’s first thought when walking back into the underground slightly stumped was that Azriel must have done or said something on his behalf But when he looked around he couldn’t locate the girl She must be currently fighting So he begrudgingly sat back down

It didn’t sit well with him to owe a debt to another especially to a stranger from one of the larger Styles His instincts twinged uncomfortably at the thought of oweing another This effect was compounded after the 3rd round and an hour or two of waiting when the list of names was announced to be participating in the playoff to determine the final 32

Randidly’s name wasn’t announced but both Tertet and Dian’s were

Due to the fact he wouldn’t be fighting in this round he was freed with the seeded individuals This playoff would occur one at a time rather than 4 at once as it had been in the past Members of the Tournament staff were currently taking down the 4 stages and setting up one larger stage near where the 1st and 2nd stage had been previously delaying the 4th round of the day for a time

So Randidly wandered off wondering what his spear attendants had gotten themselves up to

Helen looked with tired eyes at the back of the head of the woman who made her life absolutely miserable Her mother was truly beautiful which was where Helen got her own looks Unfortunately for her mother she was born to a poor family without any backing and was snatched up by a greedy leatherworking family

But that didn’t stop her mother She swiftly tamed her new husband his family and led them to become the owners of the whole leatherworking district She did this all on force of will and meanness as far as Helen could tell

Fucking bitch Helen muttered almost instinctively

Her mother turned and looked at her coolly Hel I’ve seen you’ve come wandering back Just promise me your virtue is still intact

There were about 20 of her cousins and related family members who worked at the leather factory sitting around All of the croniest fucking cronies sitting in the stands towards the back in front of the 3rd stage The view here was absolutely horrible But also present were all the young women of marriageable age made up and in rather expensive dresses

Candy meant to lure in riffraff who had a chance of becoming something as a spear user Her mother was always very clear that the thing that held back their family was the backing of a powerful Style and it seemed her mother was out hunting for just such a patron

Just shut the fuck up Helen said irritably but she still found herself moving to her mother’s side and sitting down next to her At least if she had come here she might as well clear some things up Mother I

Really Who was it Her mother said leaning forward towards her with a serious expression

Helen’s eyelid twitched This bitch would be so much easier to deal with if she was a fool But not only was she so dismissive of Helen in every other area of life she had an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth Not that Helen necessarily wanted to hide the fact she had sex she didn’t see what all the fuss was about anyway when it came to virginity but that subject would quickly derail the subject and Helen had learned from experience to never let her mother dictate the course of a conversation

I became a spear attendant I won’t be returning home Helen said getting it out there

Her mother ignored her Did you take precautions Or is there a chance you are pregnant Don’t you know how this will look

Mother don’t be a fucking cunt It’s fine Everything’s fine I just wanted to make sure you knew I

Helen it’s been a while

Tiny bugs of creepiness crawled up and down her spine as she turned and saw Kanan waddle up his arms wide for a hug Kanan more belly with arms and legs than person who had it in his tiny little head that they would be married The man who had been the first to feel her up when she was 11 and had been the first man ever to lick her ear in public

The man who her mother had tacitly approved of as a match for her Helen’s ears burned with fear shame and fury But the fury was slowly growing And in her heart Helen knew that he wasn’t even that bad There were a lot of men that did much more heinous and direct things to young women and girls seeking to obtain them as one of their wives

When men had power and women did not it swiftly became about leveraging that power and bullying the other party into submission through a show of dominance With a spear or without And to his credit Kanan was powerful Rumor had it that he had recently reached Level 30 which was why he did not participate in the regional tournament

Not that this greasy sleaze would have even made it He was the type that relied on the move he had inherited from his Style and a concentration of his statistics in Strength to win fights In the past it had inspired some kind of dread inside her but no longer She had changed in the last month experiencing a ridiculous level of growth in a short time gaining at least 60 skill levels And that was only on her own Skillset

Some of Helen’s rapid thoughts of disgust and fury must have appeared on her face because Kanan’s gaze swiftly turned cold I’ve been patient thus far but if you continue like this

Now Kanan Her mother began placatingly but Kanan simply shook his head and stepped towards Helen his eyes narrowed Her mother shot Helen an annoyed glare simply aggravating Helen further

If you don’t kindly accept my generosity Helen I will no longer be polite Kanan growled

Feeling that things were devolving very quickly and deciding she was satisfied with it Helen simply drew her spear Stay away from me you fat fuck I hope someone spits you like a pig and roasts you alive

Everyone froze

Her mother’s face slowly drained of color which was decidedly enjoyable for Helen It had been a long time since her mother had been made speechless Everyone knew of Helen’s anger issues but she usually had it bottled up and let it explode later The fact that she had just said something like that here in front of this man from the tiny Style that her mother had eyes on shocked everyone

Ikaas hid her face in her dress in shame as the one who had brought her back

Kanan was a pot of boiling water about to explode You

But he was interrupted Heelleenn

The male spear attendant stumbled forward holding one of the Ghosthound’s mugs still obviously quite intoxicated He blinked at the scene and then opened his mouth Then he closed it again and his face became quite perplexed

Err Am I interrupting something

It’s a private family matter Please be on your way sir Helen’s mother asked in an extremely dismissive tone shooting a disgusting look at Helen and Helen could hear her mother wondering why she had spent time with such degenerates and alcoholics

And then Helen had a rather embarrassing but amusing idea

No no mother he’s involved This man is the father of your grandchild Family meet ah Helen abruptly realized that she didn’t know his name so she simply shrugged Well we are both spear attendants for the same man so we just spent a lot of time together

Helen’s mother looked like she was going to be ill The male spear attendant looked puzzled but smiled good naturedly around at all the pretty women giving him shocked looks enjoying the attention

WHAT Kanan bellowed drawing his spear You dare touch my betrothed

They were starting to be loud enough to attract the attention of others and nearby watchers began to slowly edge away Luckily there was a lot of flat space in the stands perhaps just for this reason Fights were rather common especially when the competition became more serious

And especially when Claptrap was beginning to drum up fanatical support for the contestants Helen added to herself Soon there would be quite a few fights breaking out

But the fact that the first was over her virtue was a bit

Well it was honestly amazing but Helen kept her face carefully schooled Although there really wasn’t any tension to the situation as she knew in her heart that she could defeat Kanan herself if it was necessary being fought over wasn’t a bad feeling

Still her heart sank at the fact that it was the male spear attendant that was doing the fighting Helen turned to the stages and pursed her lips Based on the schedule distributed by the referees Randidly wouldn’t be among the people who were forced to fight in the final play off Which meant that her time was much more well spent leaving this farce and going to find him

The male spear attendant’s eyes focused with apparent difficulty and he considered Kanan You are

Then the male spear attendant burped vomiting a bit onto the ground in front of him

My fucking hero ’ Helen thought sourly to herself This is all getting a bit silly ’

You will die Kanan swore and then charged forward spear raised

Chapter 226

With his spear raised Kanan rushed towards the male spear attendant with his eyes bloodshot and the veins in his arm throbbing as he gripped his spear with all of his strength Although there was some space in the stands to fight there wasn’t much so he quickly arrived in front of the male spear attendant chopping down with his spear

The male spear attendant’s spear was bobbing up and down the drink preventing him from exercising his full control but at the last moment when the antagonistic spear was crashing down towards him he side stepped As soon as his balance was perfectly set which took an extra half second due to the drink in his hand he thrust forward with his own spear

If he had been sober it would have likely taken Kanan in the chest and ended the whole farce But it seemed that the step had messed with his sense of momentum because all the spear thrust did was glance off of Kanan’s arm creating a rather messy gash

Kanan roared again raising his spear and lashing out The male spear attendant blinked and slowly settled on blocking

Helen rolled her eyes Kanan was not a very good spear user but his strength Suddenly she felt intense regret by even lying about an association with this man as if her honor couldn’t get any more trashed

The strike hit the male spear attendant squarely smashing his backwards and into the thin half wall that separated their location in the stands from the row below theirs and he tumbled over that face first slamming into a group of women’s backs who squawked wildly at the surprising turn of events

He immediately hopped back up then climbed back up to their level Glaring at Kanan in disgust he didn’t notice his earlier vomit and slipped on it as he clambered back down falling to the ground finally dropping his drink that he had held for the entirety of the previous interactions

Kanan turned to Helen eyes round with disbelief

Helen wished she was anywhere else at that moment Please just kill him Truly there is no other way for me to ever be fucking clean again

This confused Kanan immensely as he struggled to use his tiny brain to reconcile this statement with her earlier ones It was an impossible task for a man who likely didn’t have above 20 Intelligence even with his level being 30 Which was kinda sad in a way but Helen supposed there was a naive strength in refusing to address your weaknesses and only becoming better at the things that you are good at

Especially when your opponents try and face your strikes directly

What the statement did end up doing was act as a distraction so the male spear attendant could struggle to his feet and sway groggily for several seconds After a while of this he snapped back into focus perhaps remembering that they were fighting and he pointed his spear at Kanan

This was all the provocation that Kanan needed and he again rushed forward spear raised But this time Kanan yelled out his signature move Crushing Blow

In terms of finishers it was a rather basic skill that everyone who earned the Class Strong Spear User would earn It was the first skill of the class But although Kanan didn’t truly have a very high Spear Mastery skill he had worked on Crushing Blow every day for the past 15 years of his life This was his polished gem Which in this skill only brought him to the level of the Regional Tournament

At least in terms of striking power If the opponent sidestepped it was all for naught and Kanan could do nothing about it But a surprising amount of spear users were foolish enough to engage in a direct confrontation with that attack The male spear attendant was no exception

But what was slightly exceptional about the male spear attendant was that as he waited for the oncoming blow the air around him began to tremble and stir Helen narrowed her eyes After watching the tournament thus far there was no mistaking that phenomena in the air This mother fucking

Iron Bulwark The male spear attendant said his eyes glazed and expression dopey

Kanan stumbled backwards howling his left arm broken from the recoil from the collision He truly hadn’t spent his stats even on Endurance to be able to withstand his own strength

What Helen’s mother gasped standing at the scene Because for a second there was a flicker of an image visible in the air A hint nothing enough to recognize it but that was the very cusp of Artisan

This lucky fuck Helen muttered

Helen’s mother’s face drained of blood as she looked at Kanan who was ugly crying on the ground

You you You I’ll kill you I’ll get my father to murder everyone of you And YOU Kanan rounded on Helen We will burn your family’s leather works to the ground Every little boy will have his cock cut off and every girl will be raped We will crush

But Kanan stuttered to a stop staring at Helen with wide eyes She had drawn her spear and was walking slowly towards Kanan eyes serious

Helen wait As long as we apologize Her mother urged her but Helen just shook her head

We can just as easily apologize for culling this stupid pig

Finally realizing the situation he was in Kanan rubbed tears from his eyes and stood shakily holding his spear in his good arm Heh even if I’m like this do you think a weak girl like you can even threaten me When my father’s men hear about this well hehehe

But then his eyes widened because Helen attacked and he felt like he was plunged into an ice cold river full of currents and eddies that left him immobilized And her spear was a jagged rock weaving through the water that was impossible to dodge no matter how hard he struggled And as it approached his neck

At the last second Helen felt a hint of danger and hopped backwards eyeing the surroundings warily A heavy set pig man walked over smiling easily Two guards were at his back both with Battle Intents raging that would put them near the Artisan level

Hehehe I appreciate you teaching my son a lesson but let’s go to far eh girlie He’s going to be the next head of my precious Style there is no way he will die to a nobody like you

Derk let’s just Helen’s mother began but Derk just waved her silent and walked over towards Kanan Helen’s gaze grew stormy This was a man who had encouraged his son to harass and heckle molest and torture for years A disgusting small little dictator

Helen exchanged a glance with the male spear attendant her gaze asking if they were on the same page He just smiled dopily

Jesus she had to do fucking everything herself

Her spear flicked out ripping Kanan’s throat out Derk froze Her mother looked like she was going to faint as Kanan’s blood splashed on the ground Helen could only yawn and kicked Kanan’s ass causing him to collapse forward splattering more blood on the ground

Good riddance She said feeling quite pleased with herself In her heart she feared Derk and his power But she also feared what would happen to her family her younger cousins like Ikaas if this walking sexual assault was allowed to live So she had ended him and damn the consequences

You you foolish bitch Helen’s mother muttered sitting down But to her surprise Helen saw that her mother was smiling slightly staring dazedly at the dead body Derk was speechless and simply looked at the body for a long time his frown slowly growing

Then he turned to her I hope you are prepared to pay the price for that With every inch of your body Heh I encouraged my hopeless ass of a son to pursue you because even when you were young your body mm But I suppose you should always be positive Now you will be all mine

By the end of his little monologue Derk’s mouth was stretched into a sweaty and twisted smile looking at her with beady eyes Then he moved drawing his spear and stepping forward towards her But Helen hopped backwards Unlike his son the father’s talent was real even his speed

His attacks came quickly short little cuts that were impossible to predict and avoid The two guards moved forward one keeping Helen’s family at bay the other engaging the male spear attendant

Helen hissed as she blocked one of Derk’s attacks and was sent stumbling like father like son the muscle bound idiots But the father’s Spear Mastery was a high level as well And his level was likely closer to 40 giving him a huge stat advantage

Helen could only strike back with her Skill Set and she did so effectively She twisted and dodged flowing around the strikes as best she could lashing out at him As they fought she could feel her skill growing as she found new ways for her flowing image to fight against his raw power

But in terms of Stamina she couldn’t hold a candle to a man who was 20 levels above her Again and again his spear smashed into her block knocking her backwards She felt a chill in her heart If he just knocked her out and kidnapped her here If she didn’t receive help

Roaring Helen began striking back with a renewed vigor burning through her Stamina without a care This This was exactly why she resented Randidly even though she was attracted to him Why why was she suddenly so reliant on someone else When had she grown so weak

She was stronger than she had ever been in the past So why would she seek his help He wouldn’t be around forever In her heart Helen knew she would one day move on to another place And before that happened she needed to sharpen her fangs to an unimaginable degree

Wild strikes suddenly became precision slashes as her frantic energy was channeled into refining her strikes and she drew a long line of blood across Derk’s cheek Her burst of strength had shocked him but now this strike angered him and he swept his spear across smashing against her guard and physically throwing her whole body backwards

But as she was going to be sent sprawling backwards a hand pressed against her back dispersing most of the force And that hand was strange because as it held her helping her establish her balance it felt at first like a question which she assented to and then like it was pumping warm fire and ice water into her body giving her strength

She turned and looked into the Ghosthound’s emerald eyes He simply nodded She tightened her grip on her spear and turned back to Derk

She hated his support but she would say nothing about it because she needed it It just like this fucking bastard to turn up at the most opportune time But with this warm rush of energy she swore that she wouldn’t let him do anything else

There was no need for the Ghosthound to dirty his hands to take out this trash

Chapter 227

Islinda mother to Helen watched this interaction with incredible focus When she was younger she too was beautiful but nowhere near so much as Helen was When her daughter began to blossom into her body at an age before she could understand it Islinda had become very adept at studying the attention that men gave Helen

It was less a useful skill now when Helen would scare away any halfway decent man that gave her the time of day but

Her eyes didn’t miss the glance and understanding the two exchanged There was some level of intimacy there Maybe

Islinda nodded approvingly He was cute enough even if his skin was weirdly pink He would certainly make a good son in law But what was less encouraging was that he simply stood towards the back with his arms crossed satisfied with letting the fight continue as it was Helen launched herself forward a weird grace to her actions her spear seeming to bend around blocks to strike at Derk

Derk responded with brutal efficiency crushing her strikes and bullying her backwards although he too eyed the new arrival carefully The man who had helped Helen was tall with long shaggy black hair His arms were muscled in such a way that there could be no mistaking he was a spear user who trained his body well even if he wasn’t otherwise talented His eyes were a piercing green and his expression was mild

This made Islinda even warier It was the mild ones that usually had the most violent explosions And there was something else about him a strange familiarity where had she seen this boy before

Over the next 30 seconds Helen and Derk clashed two dozen times their spears smashing into each other with brutal speed After that 30 seconds Islinda gaped in shock Sure she knew that her daughter was talented ever since that pervy old man taught her a bit of the spear but

She was winning

Helen’s chest was heaving her body trembling It seemed like she had well and truly depleted her Stamina reserves and her body was doing its best to recover enough to move But although this should have been an opportunity for Derk he had a grave expression on his face and a huge gash in his shoulder

Islinda had watched and she knew why he hesitated Towards the end of those clashes between the two of them Helen’s strikes had clearly started stretching a hair longer They were a split second faster and more brutal Obviously skills improved through battle but the rate at which she was improving seemed utterly impossible

As someone who had only put forth a token effort in learning the spear Islinda didn’t have a very thorough knowledge of how skill levels worked and how to most effectively raise them But she was forced to deal with such men and women on a daily basis as she managed their leather working district selling her wares She had become a very shrewd judge of strength

Over the course of this battle if Islinda wasn’t mistaken Helen’s skills had likely improved by 20 skill levels Over the course of a few minutes of strikes And most of that growth occurred at the end after that stranger had stabilized Helen

Just what was going on

Derk snapped out of his own revery at that very moment and came to the only reasonable conclusion if he allowed Helen to live and grow stronger his Style would be eradicated There was perhaps a chance of reconciliation but he knew in his heart that he would never be able to let go of this and as long as he harbored that resentment he was a threat that would be eliminated

So he bellowed powerfully and rushed forward his spear raised high But Helen just glided forward to meet him her face serene Her spear seemed to warp before Islinda’s eyes bending around the attack to strike deeply into Derk’s chest His powerful blow continued forward but it simply hit the ground and created a small crater in the stands

His body sagged forward and his minions looked on aghast

Boss

Derk pushed himself away from Helen dropping his spear Blood gushed out the hole in his chest Helen watched impassively crossing her arms Islinda sat stock still

Helen just defeated Derk Her Helen Which meant her family Would the nearby Styles act in vengeance If she sent some letters many hated Derk for he was a bully and allowed his son to run wild Could they possibly take over the nearby areas If so

Mother stop drooling Helen snapped glaring at her

Islinda sniffed not letting any of her annoyance show on her face Truly her daughter had grown unruly Although she had the power to back it up at this point but still How about you stop murdering Have you even taken the time to consider what the guards will think about a dead body in the stands If you act without thought

Helen just waved her hand dismissively her attention turned away from Islinda and to the emerald eyed man who was examining the other male spear user who Helen had claimed to be involved with Which Islinda didn’t believe for a second her daughter had inherited a small amount of class enough to avoid a belligerent drunk such as he even if his spear skills were acceptable

Confirming that he was okay the emerald eyed man looked at Helen then turned to the rest of her family Islinda sat still waiting It wasn’t just the familiarity it was also something else There was an air about this man He was strong He seemed profoundly present in the moment and his gaze was extremely intense Even Islinda herself felt a small amount of apprehension as he looked at her That intensity that wasn’t normal That wasn’t natural

But then he turned away facing back towards Helen and opened his mouth But before he could speak another individual arrived on the scene

Ghosthound I’ve been looking for you

Islinda’s eyes widened A beautiful woman with long silver hair and crimson eyes stepped slowly forward her athletic frame moving with the dangerous grace of a predator That was Azriel Blanche And the name Ghosthound

Islinda bit her lip to control her face So he was a competitor in the tournament And one with enough power to enter the final 32 Truly her daughter had good taste

The Ghosthound turned to Azriel looking annoyed He crossed his arms I looked for you too You didn’t need to do that But thank you

Azriel tilted her head to the side But I did anyway I wanted something so I am moving to take it That is the prerogative of those with power Accept or I’ll kill you

You certainly are charming The Ghosthound sat down looking seriously at Azriel

It was a joke I find that humor often lightens the mood How about this one Well nevermind I’ll spear you the details and get straight to the point Azriel looked intently at the Ghosthound a small smile on her face

There was a long moment of silence

Islinda laughed politely and the rest of the non Helen members of her family followed suit awkwardly The other male spear user vomited again The Ghosthound put his head in his hands

Azriel tilted her head to the side Did you not get it

Let’s set that aside for now What do you want

Azriel flashed a bright smile Follow me Ghosthound This must be kept a secret

He nodded slowly and the two left After they had gone Islinda sat still knowing her daughter She dithered and awkwardly stood Helen obviously expected her mother to launch into a series of questions Which admittedly she truly wanted to ask But she wanted the answers not the feeling of asking the questions so she needed to lure Helen back

Unfortunately the male spear user wandered off and after a moment’s hesitation Helen followed him glancing back at Islinda She simply waved at her departing daughter

After she left Islinda beckoned Ikaas over giving her very detailed instructions on what would happen next Before she would move she needed information How was Helen related to these parties how intimately Because only then would Islinda know the best way to use them

Drak Wyrd is strong Azriel announced once they had left the bustling thoroughfares of Deardun and retreated to a distant watch tower From it they could see the surrounding countryside covered in its strange unfamiliar vegetation Much to his annoyance Randidly couldn’t stop thinking about how alone they were up here in this watchtower His eyes kept absently tracing the lines of the formfitting leather that covered her body

Abruptly Randidly realized the silence had stretched between them for a while and he glanced at Azriel But she was gazing out towards the wilderness her silver hair falling and framing her face

Randidly sighed to himself This was a really bad time to develop a crush From a woman who filled him with holes a day ago Maybe that was the reason why Or maybe it was because she didn’t seem to respect him any more or less based on his strength Which he supposed was foolish to think He doubted they would be having this conversation if he was weak It was just an attitude thing

Then why did he agree to surrender to me You didn’t need

But I did You weren’t ready And you were the only spear user I saw this week that left me surprised You still aren’t ready But that can change As for what I promised him If he wins the tournament I will marry him Azriel turned and looked at Randidly I expect he will knock me up rather quickly which I would prefer to avoid for now Oh I’m not against children it’s just a bit soon

Chapter 228

Randidly coughed awkwardly at her words That’s that’s not why I’m shocked Why would you agree to that for me I don’t understand

Azriel shrugged turning back to the wilderness After winning the Regional Tournament and necessarily beating me he would use his influence to force me into it There were a lot of political reasons for it too a lot of boring schemes of the elderly let’s not talk about it But it was a meaningless promise and perhaps he knew it From his perspective though obtaining my word is much more valuable than using my Style as leverage

So again why Randidly asked bewildered It was one thing for him to develop a crush on this attractive talented woman who had ripped him full of holes It was another for this woman who had riddled him with holes to bet her hand in marriage on him Even if he had surprised her that was the difference in losing immediately and losing to her in 38 seconds or whatever the time was

Azriel took a step forward and hopped up onto the low wall A wind blow and she swayed slightly but then she began to walk along the length of the wall

I guess I’m what you call a genius By some chance I obtained the skill Crystal Memory That along with my talent for spear use allows me to very quickly see through a move once I’ve seen it once My whole life I’ve been a genius always chasing the back of Drak who is 5 years older than me Every hurdle he would pass I would rush towards passing faster earlier in my life Chasing him endlessly I wonder if it was stressful for him To be heralded as a once in a millennial talent with a chance to become a Spear Master and then to have a girl 5 years your junior to be even more talented

Azriel spun on her toes her silver hair fluttering But recently I feel like I’ve caught up to him but I can’t be sure I suspect he has more but he hides it I have not seen his true strength I’ve examined all the other contestants and then are known quantities They might force him to put up a good fight but none can make him serious

She hopped down and walked over to Randidly You don’t believe you can do it And maybe I don’t either But I know for sure that no one else can do it to make him serious and you have surprised me once before I said so before if I see a move All I need is for someone to make him serious let me see that last ace he hides Once I know it I will continue chasing him and pass him

Then Azriel frowned at Randidly Although I’m a genius I’m not a god The first time he uses that ace it would be a surprise and work on me So I need

Cannon fodder Randidly said his lip curling

Azriel nodded as if this label was pleasing to her Randidly rolled his eyes You know you are extremely arrogant

Is that a problem

The words hung in the air between them Azriel yawned and then walked away

I’ll be expecting you I’m staying at the Burning Forge Inn

Randidly frown as he watched her departing hips Waiting for him What exactly did she want from him To train him

He’s too weak Marco Polo said breaking the heavy silence in the room

Shal’s face was stony as he gazed at the ground He couldn’t disagree with the other spear user

Divveltian snorted And yet he has made it into the top 32 at the Northern Regional Tournament If nothing else he improves very quickly That move that he used for brief spurts that can be refined and quickly He just needs experience

Marco looked unwilling to accept that perspective but could not do anything to refute it Divveltian frowned at the two of them What is the point of complaining now We are powerless There is no action we can take It is all up to him So we give him as much instruction as possible

Shal continued to remain silent a thin level of fear covered by a thick level of anger in his heart True the original goal for bringing Randidly to this world was a vague goal of keeping the honor of the Aemont’s Spear Phantom Style almost on a whim To reward the strange individual who snapped him out of his funk in the dungeon with additional training was another motivation But the more he thought about it the more it had become about getting Randidly into the top 4 and being able to leave the territory of the Spearman School

For beyond that was a vast unexplored world with the label there be monsters And Lucretia was one of them The one that Shal swore to himself he would crush mercilessly

But as he watched and waited Shal’s impatience grew Why must he sit idly while the world turned Although he had received a decree from the powerful Central Styles not to leave the Spearman School if he wanted could they stop him

There was another part of Shal however that hesitated Because there was a strange stickiness to that thought process The further he indulged it the more his mind seemed filled with cobwebs It was a satisfying and righteous anger but in a way it reminded Shal of the wild discontent of his days before he had encountered Randidly Those cobwebs had slowly been dispelled as he trained Randidly both in the dungeon and in the prison There was something cathartic honest and proud about it

But that was slowly being replaced with resentment as Shal felt powerless and furious If he didn’t choose to remain here his options were

Standing Shal said I will speak with him We will decide how to proceed then

Randidly was slightly disconcerted when he returned and found Shal waiting for him inside of his room He was paging idly through the diary of the Spear Phantom but snapped the book closed and laid it back on the bed when Randidly walked into the room

They exchanged a glance and Randidly followed Shal up the stairs to the rooftop training area which was completely deserted They wasted no time and both drew their spears

Show it to me Shal breathed his eyes burning his expression baleful Then without any further warning he attacked moving a hair faster than Randidly had ever seen him move putting immense pressure on Randidly

Still it was quick but it wasn’t the direct overwhelming speed that Azriel had displayed when they had fought Focusing Randidly responded using the Spear Phantom’s Embrace moving towards his mentor Their steps were both quick and Randidly very swiftly had several rather dangerous cuts from Shal’s spear Although Shal wasn’t as fast as Azriel he was much much much quicker to change directions as if momentum didn’t apply to him

But that was what Randidly needed and under the pressure of Shal’s attacks Randidly remembered where this started With the different steps of the Spear Phantom’s Footwork Soon he too was moving seemingly without any care for momentum As he did so the baleful hopeless aura that he had struggled so long to control exploded outwards naturally

His movements became light and floating his eyes unfocused but detecting changes all around him Behind Randidly a huge image of a faceless spectre emerged its arms spread wide

Shal increased his speed which caused Randidly to falter somewhat but he began to add feints to his strikes mixing his offense up It wasn’t enough to interrupt Shal’s series of attacks but it made him slow down his relentless assault as Shal had to respect the skill

Randidly’s chest was heaving at this point his eyes narrowed His image howled and charged forward Truthfully his Aether was swirling the fastest he had ever seen He had only gained 2 Skill Levels but he felt more intimately familiar with the skill than he had ever before Part of the reason he was having so much trouble was likely his high control Some of this was natural and not something that needed to be forced The image and aura would explode when he managed the eyes steps and feints

But Randidly’s Stamina was almost empty Truly Shal was strong Without even using images his base stats were on another level

So Randidly attacked Shal’s spear seemed to blur weaving through Randidly’s guard catching him in the chest and throwing him to the ground

At this point both of them stopped gazing at each other Randidly with his heaving chest Shal with the obvious conflict in his eyes So many strange emotions that Randidly didn’t really recognize in Shal were fighting there Randidly blinked

Shal sighed You did it I am surprised Although I knew it was possible Perhaps you were truly the one who was meant to inherit the title of Spear Phantom from my father

Shal trailed off his eyes going distant as his thoughts turned elsewhere Seeking to fill the silence Randidly spoke up explaining about how it happened the disparate skills that he combined to get the Spear Phantom’s Embrace

Chuckling Shal just shook his head and said nothing The silence continued Randidly stood most of the wounds from Shal already scabbing over There is something else Shal I’d like to give you a gift something to thank you for everything you’ve done for me

Randidly didn’t really know how to feel about his Aether Donation Skill He had used it on Helen but mostly due to their previous physical intimacy It was a profoundly strange feeling Even now he could feel a new slight Aether tether connecting them together It was still thin and weak nowhere near the rivers of Aether that flowed back and forth between him and the 4 that he had blessed but

Already he could feel bits of meaning and life flowing into him from her giving him small insights to flowing rivers It was extremely strange He didn’t think he could use it yet but Randidly suspected in the future that the mostly sluggish waters of his Soul Skill would begin to quicken as that meaning inside of him became more prominent After all there was a strange connection between his Aether Crossroads and his Soul Skill and his heart as they all aligned so he could escape the trap of the Creature

Well as much as he really did escape its machinations

Shaking his head to dispel these thoughts Randidly walked forward to Shal who was regarding him with curiosity and used his Aether Donation skill

You simply need to accept it

Chapter 229

Divveltian sat meditating when the door crashed open and Shal stumbled into the room Divveltian frowned Shal was shaken More than that he was terrified

Shal what

I must go Shal interrupted gathering all of his things into his interspatial ring with a wave of his hand and then turned to leave As he passed out of the door almost as an afterthought he spoke over his shoulder to Divveltian Tell Randidly that he has the tools to do this Do not waver But also never trust strength gifted to him by another

Then Shal left After a few minutes of thinking Divveltian stood and stared at Shal’s retreating back He had known Shal since he was a boy Always quiet reserved but dedicated to the spear and talented Even faced with the prospect of proceeding to the domicile of the Devourer he hadn’t seemed to even feel an itch of fear

But now his eyes were gaunt and desperate like he had seen a ghost

“What ” Divveltian said speaking to the quiet now emptier room “What are you so afraid of What are you running from “

Shal stumbled out onto the the road leading out of Deardun feeling shaken Shal had always known that there was something strange about the boy His ability to supply his own Aether without having to worry about Aether Starvation was disturbing because of some of the associations in Shal’s past But ultimately it had seemed like a small isolated thing so Shal was able to rid himself of some of his unease and accept it at face value

But today when Randidly had touched his hand he felt the heady hot/cold touch of power and his words

You simply need to accept it

They reminded him of another’s words The soft whispered words from the face that lay inside his chest Although the face was still now it used to yell and gesture its eyes wild and focused But there was never any noise but the voice whispering that phrase over and over again You simply need to accept it

What was worse was that the face looked exactly like his father

And in Shal’s mind that voice could only have one source Lucretia Those tempting sweet words and the wafts of power from that face hidden inside the depths of his chest scared him Was Randidly another one of her pawns Had she

Then Shal blinked Why was his fear so strong True there were a lot of things that Shal didn’t understand but there was one thing that the world understood better than anything else power His hands clenched into fists As long as he grasped power everything else would follow All he needed to do was

But wait in the past the moments where Shal was strongest were when he had caved and relied on his father’s face in his chest channeling some of his spirit to utilize the Spear Phantom’s moves That wasn’t truly his own power even if it had proven itself usable But hadn’t he decided that it was dangerous

Now that Randidly the worthless whelp had informed him of the secret of the Spear Phantom’s Embrace too his strength would

But if the methods that he used were to be believed it wasn’t really an issue of usage it was an issue of perception Shal simply had to see how all of these disparate skills were part of one larger whole and merge them together If Randidly had managed to get such a powerful boost if he himself could manage it

In every strange coincidence of the past several months of real world time began to spin and settle into place Lucretia’s hand floating over everything

A vicious surging anger With power even Lucretia was nothing And with his father’s power surging in his chest

Muttering to himself Shal continued to walk leaving Deardun behind driven by pure instinct Somehow he knew that if he continued to walk he would someday find a truth a weapon a strength and all of this would be unnecessary He simply needed

Then abruptly his consciousness departed from him and he collapsed and a smiling woman walked out of the darkness cooing softly Oh my child how you’ve grown

Turning she then regarded the lights of Deardun with a more frosty expression And you Mr Ghosthound I’m starting to get annoyed with how often you are in the right place at the right time to keep my baby from falling into despair Perhaps it’s time for me to intervene directly And you would like that too wouldn’t you

As her lavender hair cascaded around her Lucretia hefted a strangely shaped object pointing it towards the town It trembled slightly and then the object opened its eyes Although the Yeti had been severely injured and gutted of Aether due to its nature here projected onto the 5th Cohort wounds such as this wouldn’t kill it

Although it filled the Yeti with fear how closely the woman had pushed him to that line without crossing it It spoke of experience that would mark her too as a Heretic

But now it was faced with the call of its destiny It could sense its purpose the reason it had become a Judgement just beyond the city walls Imperceptibly its wounds began to heal and it growled softly

With an abrupt motion Lucretia deftly shook the Yeti head dispelling its slowly gathering strength She laughed lightly at its struggle and then picked up Shal walking into the darkness Not yet love There are a few more seeds I want to check before we scrap it all and send in the locusts

Randidly sat very still Not that he hadn’t expected it to be rough sledding to convince Shal of the value of the services he offered No even that was wrong It wasn’t a service it was a fucking lifeline This Aether Connection would enable Shal

But no thinking about it that way was also just trouble He needed to be more understanding of how the other man was feeling Based on even Randidly’s shallow understanding of the procedure it was a very intimate thing that would connect the two of them permanently Life and meaning would flow back and forth changing and hopefully strengthening them both

Still it hurt that Shal’s refusal had been so sudden and his departure so swift Although he would likely come around there had been strange disturbing parallels in the hard look in Shal’s eyes that Randidly remembered from his past and as he was slowly consumed by those memories as he sat alone Randidly began to tremble

He smiled sardonically to himself During the time which the System had arrived Randidly had made many strides in so many areas He was less hesitant in social situations He was more confident of his own existence He felt more directly how he fit and connected in the world And he had achieved a level of strength that was impossible

He was currently in another world for Christ’s sake fighting against people who trained from a very young age in order to be the best at this And although he had only taken a year and some months he was closing in on them Perhaps it was his attitude or Soul Skill or situation his Aether Crossroads but he was closing in on these people

Yet watching as Shal left him all of that fell away

Randidly blinked slightly surprised at finding Divveltian standing before him a strange expression on his face Very quickly Randidly schooled himself putting his hands behind his back to hide the tremors Yes

Shal has left He seemed confident that you could handle the rest of the tournament in his absence Divveltian began but then he stopped abruptly looking deeply at Randidly

There was a furious hotness in Randidly’s chest He wondered idly what sort of expression he must be making But that curiosity was very quickly overwhelmed and devoured by the heat which very quickly soured and turned cold

Well as Randidly thought it would be difficult But this leaving was only a small thing He would be back He wouldn’t just abandon him

Randidly walked forward past Divveltian who gave him a searching glance where are you going

He didn’t even bother to answer just left the roof and walked down the stairs Everything around him was exceptionally clear the details pristine and vivid even in the half light of this night in Deardun

Something did surprise Randidly enough that he paused though Helen was waiting out front of the inn as he left looking at the ground with a bleak look It would have been much easier if he could have slipped past her but she heard the sound of the door opening and looked sharply up Her eyes glittered reflecting the soft light of the half moon She straightened and Randidly mechanically noticed the way her leather clothes hugged her body There was a small stirring of lust in his chest but ultimately it was unable to find purchase in the cool bitterness that suffused him and disappeared

Uh Ghost No Randidly I wanted Helen began looking surprisingly sheepish but Randidly quickly interrupted her

Just fuck off I’m tired of you following me around Randidly said eyes forward as he walked past her without another glance Right now he was in no mood in dealing with anyone and the thought of how Helen’s eyes might soften if she thought he was hurt from Shal’s abrupt departure The imagined pity made Randidly furious

But what stopped him cold was he felt the tip of a spear rushing towards his exposed back

Chapter 230

It was only a second but seconds can cost a lot in an ambush Luckily Randidly wasn’t an average spear user any longer In addition now that he could actually wear the rare belt that had been given to him the extra concentration made itself very useful

After that first moment of confusion his instincts kicked in and he spun around producing the huge obsidian spear that smashed toward Helen’s stab As he expected her spear seemed to blur and twist flowing around his block and towards his exposed skin

With glittering eyes Randidly accepted this outcome dropping his spear and stepping forward Root Control produced thick powerful roots that rushed up out of the ground and seized onto her spear stopping it dead

Following through with his step Randidly reached out and grabbed her by the throat his eyes burning his fury hot

To his surprise Helen met his gaze calmly not a drop of fear in it Even though they both knew that her main advantage in a fight over him was the elusiveness of her attack techniques Once he had his hands on her like he did now his hand tightening around her throat she simply didn’t have the requisite amount of stats to resist him She was under his complete control

And she felt no fear

Strangely Randidly remembered very vividly his furious anger at Tessa and her relative terror when he unleashed Agony on her The pain that he had caused her had been enough to knock her out completely A part of Randidly shriveled as he remembered how wild and stupid he had been How casually he could use his power

As their eyes remained locked Randidly’s fury slowly drained away This he knew was her goal It annoyed him somewhat that she had seen through his emotions through their one small verbal interaction because she hadn’t known about it before he had left the inn What was also annoying was how quickly she found a way to grab his attention

Randidly wanted to berate her telling her how dumb it had been to do that but as the coldness in his chest drained away he simply felt tired Dropping his hand from her throat he nodded his acknowledgement of her accomplishment and asked Okay what did you actually wa

Helen punched him in the face her passiveness gone replaced by fury

Don’t you dare ever talk to me like that I’ll kill you in your sleep you little cunt

Then she spun on her heel and left head held high

After she had gone Randidly began laughing and couldn’t stop for a long time This method of unraveling his tension was much more agreeable to him because it was clear that this hadn’t been a ploy She was genuinely furious But why She swore much worse than that on a regular basis

Well ultimately it didn’t matter He would set aside her obvious anger for now It wouldn’t be a good idea to chase after her in this instance especially while he wasn’t sure what was wrong Better to give her time and space

So now he had to more firmly face his options right now His previous instinct was to stomp over to Azriel and Well Randidly wasn’t quite sure now She had told him to come over and at the moment Randidly wanted to be around someone he could truly let loose with At the same time now that he had cooled somewhat Randidly was hesitant to directly head over to her inn mere hours after she had given the invitation

There were definitely methods of training that he could use while training here methods of polishing the skills he had Randidly was especially interested in some ideas he had been toying with in regards to his Flexibility of the White Hunters Skill as well as spending some of his time raising Grace But Azriel would likely be difficult enough that she could spur on his growth far faster than he could on his own But it would be hard to tell what skills he would have time to use against her and therefore what would benefit

Randidly had also been neglecting his spells somewhat and some time getting in some focused work with them even if he didn’t sharpen his images would be a good thing

The sound of footsteps made him look up sharply Dian stood before him her crimson hair framing her frowning face Her eyes were filled with a mixture of respect and hatred and her nose was wrinkled in distaste as she considered him

After being ambushed earlier Randidly’s body instantly prepared itself for battle but Dian remained standing some distance away her arms folded After almost a minute of their standoff she said Take me to your master We must exchange words

Randidly shrugged He has left for now Try again later

Then Randidly stepped forward keeping his attention on her but intending to walk past her As he expected her hand snaked out and grabbed his elbow but there was no flicker of Battle Intent so Randidly let it happen

Do not take me lightly You may have come out slightly ahead in the past but my strength grows

Look I’m not playing He’s not here Why do you want to speak with him anyway Immediately after speaking Randidly regretted asking the question Honestly he would prefer not to interact with such a dangerous attractive woman overmuch She set him on edge likely because of their previous differences that had resulted in them trying to kill each other

Dian’s hand fell away slowly a frown on her face She muttered a few things under her breath and then looked up at Randidly glaring at him She seemed to hold him entirely responsible

Seeing that Randidly’s mild gaze didn’t change in the face of her glare Dian huffed and said Then the next time you see him tell him to seek me out We don’t have much time

Then Dian turned and hurried away Randidly almost sighed Why the hell were so many people seeking him out right now Were there plots going on everywhere around him But then Randidly frowned and focused more directly on the problem If Dian approached Shal the man who killed her apparent master then perhaps what she had to say had something to do with him

But her words were we don’t have much time’ which made it seem like her concern was an external threat Of those only one sprang to mind Lucretia

Which meant that Randidly really would say something to Shal if when he returned After all if there was one thing that made his master get serious it was this mystery woman who had been the catalyst his father used to catapult himself into the realms of the powerful

In a way what she represented was very tempting even to Randidly But after his run in with the Creature he was extremely wary of such things Even now he suspected he hadn’t evaded her machinations even slightly but was getting pulled forward on strings towards its goal all the while thinking he was in control

Randidly shook his head sharply One problem at a time The current problem was the tournament and how to grasp victory And he wanted to try the avenue that Azriel offered

Randidly proceeded to her inn and spoke to the doorman and then to Azriel and was promptly escorted to a very large underground arena where Azriel immediately began stretching He gave her a searching glance She shrugged and then pointed to a shelf along the side which was covered in potions

If you are trying to ask what we will be doing I don’t quite know yet You surprised me but that might be a one time thing To make sure that’s not the case we need to fight a few times We will start with 10 Those potions will heal you almost instantly so don’t worry about any of these injuries impacting you tomorrow

That was the other thing Randidly was slightly wary of but he had trusted his own regeneration But it seemed slightly convoluted for a person who could defeat him to invite him over at all especially to injure him so he could lose in a different match Much easier and more Azriel’s style to just attack him directly and get it over with

As Randidly did a few exercises to limber himself up as well he considered the woman before him And god damnit but he couldn’t get over how attractive she was Luckily Randidly was pretty good at keeping his gaze mild and on spots that were harmless but the more time he spent with her the more his eyes started straying

It also made it very hard for him to develop a sense of the type of person that she was She was definitely powerful and anyone who is powerful worked very hard to get there But their previous interactions made her seem more than just powerful They showed that she was a creature of intuition One that would someday either be lauded as a genius or condemned as a fool

Perhaps the perfect example of this was her strange actions in regards to him She claimed that she wanted to be able to defeat the favorite of the tournament and to assure herself of that all she needed was to see him go 100% in a battle Of all the people in the tournament she seemed to think that Randidly was the most likely able to accomplish this but he needed to sharpen up very quickly

But it didn’t seem so far away that it was hopeless just

Randidly needed to improve enough for it to take him by surprise

Weird strange oddly one minded but also extremely decisive and direct when she needed to be That was Azriel

Okay let’s begin She said clapping her hands and turning to Randidly

Chapter 231

Perhaps he should have expected it but there was something very different and intimidating about the dangers Randidly had been put into with Azriel more so than any of the times with Marco Polo or Shal

Mostly Azriel wasn’t very good at actually not killing him Her attacks were fast and direct and she seemed to have an inordinate amount of trust that he wouldn’t let himself die just from these training spars

But she didn’t pull a single punch and aimed for weaknesses and blindspots She was brutally fast and stronger that Randidly initially would have guessed Part of that may be related to the sheer amount of momentum that her body seemed to have at any point but likely related was the amount of base stats you needed to channel that much force through your body during her chained attacks

After 3 losses and painful regenerations Randidly was encouraged to start using spells to try and throw her off This worked for a time or at least doubled the time it took her to win but the amount of mana that he had to use in order to keep her at bay was not sustainable in the least Spearing Roots Root Control Incinerating Bolts Circle of Flame all of these had to be used in quick succession in order to give him even a second in front of Azriel’s brutal assault

The next time Randidly lost and drank the position hanging onto his life by a thread he tried to use his newer spells Hammer of Dawn and Burning Footsteps They briefly gave her pause but both were at a insufficient level as compared to her Although it was interesting to note that she seemed much more sensitive to the magic’s effects than he was Likely she had a much smaller amount of Resistance

In this and only this Randidly felt a small amount of superiority His training had increased his Resistence much although it had initially been a similarly pitiful amount He supposed the people of this world were lucky that most magic monsters had been hunted and were contained within the dungeons Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to so brazenly ignore the dangers of having low Resistance

But he supposed it was also intelligent to focus their stats elsewhere at this point in their careers focusing on obtaining a greater evaluation at the Regional Tournament rather than making themselves more survivable overall If the chances of encountering a mage were small then the stat points were more efficiently put into other categories

After exactly 10 duels where Randidly was repeated beaten bloody by her insistent charges Azriel tilted her head to the side There is more yes What are you hiding from me Grumbling and with the hot fury he had mostly dispersed earlier Randidly rose to his feet with a vicious grin After he had completely healed he attacked

This time with Randidly changing tactics Azriel allowed them 5 whole duels before she was satisfied even though each time she dealt with Randidly’s techniques even more effectively

That should be enough for today I have a good idea of your capabilities It’s almost dawn why don’t you recover some and we will meet again tonight I’ll have a plan for us then

Randidly still lying on the ground gave her a frank look How do you know if it will be in time If I’m matched against him in the first round

Azriel snorted Do you think the great Styles of Deardun would leave such a thing to chance No our elders with a very discerning and critical eye have already arranged the tournament for maximum drama your first match is against the one you faced previously Bertarn Yish They believe that you will lose but rather impressively perhaps driven on by your shame of losing previously

Azriel shook her head Sometimes I don’t understand them They seem to recognize your various strengths but all they saw was the previous outcome Could they not tell that you had no Stamina and no real tenacity in that fight Well it’s fine An easy opponent to start to warm you up

Randidly smiled uneasily Sure he had faced him before And Bertarn didn’t fill Randidly with the same sort of awe that he felt towards Azriel but that didn’t mean he would be an easy opponent His strength and defense were real and Randidly suspected that Bertarn’s images were not weak

But that was why it was worth doing An easy opponent wouldn’t be nearly as fun

Lucretia sat her legs folded beneath her Shal’s body lying on one side of her the head of the Yeti on the other Before her was a broken mirror with seven complete shards held together in its case Each showed the image of a different person struggling training

Desperately pushing themselves to the limits of their abilities seeking to grow just a hair faster more proficient more capable before the first round of the tournament tomorrow

Lucretia opened her eyes smiling I’ve never really bothered with weaklings such as these but perhaps I was a bit short sighted I might as well plant a few seeds while I’m here

She held her hand up and rubbed her fingers together and a fine lavender dust floated towards sinking into the mirror and fading away But then one of the sections of the mirror began to glow yellow swiftly glowing in color

Hissing in annoyance Lucretia made a small construct of her precious Aether and sent it into the mirror dissipating her seed The glowing yellow color faded slowly clearly aware that something was amiss but unable to determine what had earned its ire

It seems even this backwater place has a high level Pontiff well as long as I stay away from that girl it should be fine he will likely assume the interference was something to do with the tournament It will be dissatisfying but without proof of harm he probably won’t seek me out

Lucretia sucked on her lip contemplatively for several minutes Then she sighed and stood gathering up her two packages

Didn’t get this far by taking pointless risks Anyways let’s leave this place Move somewhere closer

Almost unwilling Randidly set down the spatula and fork and began to walk back towards the city of Deardun After finishing his training that day with Azriel he had hurried out of the city and created a small fire then constructing a hasty grill over it These past few hours as the sun slowly rose and called for the beginning of the day he had been cooking and practicing his magic as he had wanted to do as the closest thing his work ethic would allow to a break

All in all it had been a very well spent time since he had last checked his PP Randidly had gained 3 Levels in the Spear Phantom’s Embrace 6 Lvls in Dodge and Bacterial Regeneration 2 Lvls in Aether Connection and Spear Mastery 4 Lvls in the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil Circle of Flame and Battle Intent and 1 Lvl in Incendiary Bolt Stalemate Breaker Physical Fitness Grace Flexibility of the White Hunters and Cooking This was in addition to some of the other skills that Randidly had tried to some success to distract Azriel

It was enough to allow Randidly to finish off the Bacterial Mutation Path

Congratulations You have completed the BacterialPath Some paths are not the places where your feet walk but ways your body grows and adapts to the world around you The places you have been have been harsh and unrelenting and for that you have been forever changed But your body teems with life and is ready to evolve Branching Path

You sense that your body can continue to refine itself further either by directing its increasing improvements within the body or without Where shall your blooms mutate

It didn’t necessarily say what sort of improvements this would entail so Randidly was rather annoyed that he had to make a decision without information But still Randidly had gotten this far by following the path he believed in From the earliest time as he had chosen rot as a source of life to now when he selected on focusing his refinements inward his goal was always to improve himself

At the moment he had more than enough weapons In his opinion the other option would increase survivability which especially now was important

Congratulations You have focused your attention inward Your organs and blood vessels are refined in purged becoming more robust Perception +5 Reaction +5 Resistance +5 Health and Stamina Regeneration increases by 1 per level You have learned the Skill Living Blood (Un) Lvl 1

Living Blood (Un) Your blood has an increased affinity to you and carries a large amount of your Vitality You have developed a small amount of control over your blood Upon being wounded should you have great concentration and remain undisturbed for an amount of time you can control the spilled blood to flow back into your body rapidly increasing the regeneration speed of the wound Control over the blood increases with level Amount of percentage of lost health that regenerates increases with skill level

A sort of Meditation for health But he had to focus Intriguing but it was hard to know how useful it would really be That stat boosts were more concrete for the moment and also more encouraging But Randidly was nothing if not accepting of new skills so he removed a spear and cut his arm letting the blood slowly drip down his arm and away

Then closing his eyes he focused on the wound guiding his will there and seized the blood and began to will it back up his arm flowing back into the wound As promised there was a huge boost in health regeneration making it so half of the health he lost from the cut was recovered by absorbing the blood The rest of the damage was low enough that his already impressive regeneration took care of it by the time he finished However

Randidly opened his eyes panting with a slight headache forming Controlling blood was fucking hard Ridiculously hard His Control was at what he had assumed was a monstrously high level already so he should be able to do it relatively easily but this was far far from easy

The other problem was that healing the wound had taken him almost 5 minutes His more optimistic hopes were that this would be able to help him heal mid match but it seemed pretty certain that this was useless for now Perhaps he could use it briefly seizing only the blood nearest the wound guiding it back into him just earning a nice boost in health That benefit would add up and probably wouldn’t take too much time

Randidly sighed So many things to train He had earned 2 skill levels in it already so at least there was that

Chapter 232

Finishing the Path in addition to the benefits given to him from it also got him over 250 in his Soul Skill giving him another Blessing of the Cleansing Rain But as he looked at the benefits from the notification Randidly couldn’t help but wrinkle his brow

Wisdom +3 Focus +7 Concentration permanently increases by 1% Mana Regeneration increases by 16 +3 Free stats

Didn’t the bonuses seem slightly different than before His memory was very sharp from his high mental stats and something about the notification struck him as if not wrong different

But Randidly had no real way of checking so ultimately just shrugged accepting the boost The next order of business was determining which path to go down Ultimately although there were still many temptations for Randidly if he kept improving like this Randidly wanted to finish the Initiate of Ash II Path After all when he finished he should become an Anointed of Ash which should have some sort of powerful positive effect

So Randidly threw his remaining PP into it and was disappointed that he didn’t receive any bonuses He sighed the previous path had made him spoiled by giving him a Vitality every 5

Then squaring his shoulders Randidly walked back into Deardun The first day of the finals portion of the tournament was about to commence

Claptrap poured himself some of the very expensive liquor he had purchased last night Would you like a drink

The head referee of the Regional Tournament scratched his beard hesitating Claptrap hid his smile but he could see the thoughts flit across the man’s face The referee was torn because he believed very strongly in the sanctity of his position This was a quality that Claptrap respected which was why he arranged this meeting

But if he wanted to continue to expand his influence the best time to do it would be now during the Regional Tournament while the other merchants were rushing to catch up with him and figure out how he managed to innovate to this point Claptrap needed to keep expanding rapidly cementing himself in the minds of his customers

Instinctively Claptrap knew that the Ghosthound would encourage him on this track There was a decisiveness that he had learned from that man and also an unrelenting doggedness in the face of adversity He would grasp this chance even if he had to beggar himself for it

For Ciel

Claptrap’s face flickered Although this had started as a way for him to get close to Ciel at this point Was that even what he wanted His earlier interaction as they arranged for some of the Engraved armors to be traded had struck home to Claptrap that she had never felt anything special for him He had simply been a store clerk with whom she had interacted with in the past

Now well

Much to Claptrap’s surprise a few of the small time vendors had expressed their admiration the previous day after everything had closed up and everything was accounted for The different policies that Claptrap had instituted for salespersons had worked and the evidence of workers stealing had dropped precipitously

Needless to say these female vendors had been very impressed by his business acumen and for the first time in a while Claptrap had not slept alone

Much to his surprise he had woken up early slipping out of bed and leaving the woman dozing naked and actually spent a good hour exercising Although he was experiencing sudden growth it suddenly occurred to Claptrap that his physical specs needed to stay at a respectable place or he would never truly have control over his new company

Pleasantly surprising were the three skill levels he gained

Still now he was also profoundly sore but

Smiling Claptrap nodded encouragingly at the referee who finally relented and gestured for a drink The man only took a small sip before staring wistfully at the drink and then setting it down on the table At that time he spoke

So What do you wish to discuss

Claptrap’s smile was wide and guileless

Randidly looked at the board critically His would be the third match which was tentatively scheduled for an hour from now As Azriel promised his opponent would be Bertarn the muscle bound fool he had clashed with in the preliminaries

For now another speech was occurring by Aethon Thai again extolling the virtues and strengths of the younger generation and encouraging them to do their best to succeed here at the tournament and then further on in their lives leading the Northern Regional to an era of prosperity

Absolute drivel

Randidly was originally planning to spend his free time meditating and using his newfound Living Blood Skill but a tap on his shoulder distracted him He turned to find a well dressed unassuming man standing beside him a small smile on the man’s face

Aiden Darke pleasure to meet you sir The man said

Randidly raised his eyebrows Was this perhaps a groupie He supposed that he was a participant not affiliated with the big Styles which apparently made the sales of his commemorative mugs that Claptrap was producing one of the highest but still this was moving a little too fast

Unsure of what to do Randidly turned away and studiously began listening to the speech Anything was better than interacting with this random guy

You looked directly at my face You’re not deaf You know I’m here Be polite and answer me

Rather than annoyed this strange groupie who called himself Aiden seemed amused He began to poke Randidly’s shoulder Randidly’s countenance became stormy and he scooted slightly to the side

He wasn’t unwilling it just seemed profoundly silly for him to get up and move away from this little pest due to pokes Surely his Endurance was high enough to weather this storm of annoying

But contrary to his earlier assumptions the man’s pokes had an incredible amount of force and the strike each time made Randidly shudder and grit his teeth How was this random idiot doing this

Spinning quickly Randidly lashed out with his arm to knock Aiden’s hand away but to his surprise Aiden reacted quickly his hand twisting and grabbing Randidly’s arm holding it still Randidly flexed his muscles but couldn’t manage to move A thin smile was on Aiden’s face

Do I have your attention now Mr Ghosthound

Randidly felt a rapidly growing sense of danger emerge from his chest Aether began to flow and revolve through his body rising his senses to the maximum levels Even then he refrained from activating his skills but he was unable to even get the grip to waiver This wasn’t a small difference of strength

Instantly Randidly become serious finally looking at the unassuming man in the eye This wasn’t a level of strength that could be faked or reached through levels such as Artisan or Adept This was the level of someone who had vastly superior stats Randidly had forgotten but this tournament was restricted to those below the Level of 25 Beyond that level lay monsters far far above the level he was currently fighting

Although not all of them had even reached the Artisan level as long as they had higher quality Class Skills and large amounts of stats they could easily overcome young geniuses who could condense their images

Good I finally have your attention Aiden Darke said with relish releasing Randidly’s hand I’m just here to gather a little bit of information no need to worry As I said previously my name is Aiden Darke I belong to the Engraving Guild

Chapter 233

After the discussion with Aiden Darke Randidly’s expression was frosty Darke had insisted on Randidly revealing where he had obtained the Engraved equipment from Not for a second did Darke seem to have any suspicion that Randidly himself had produced them but they knew that the equipment flowed through Randidly

And after the earlier display of strength Randidly had no qualms with keeping silent about the true culprit at all

Randidly briefly considered throwing Shal under the bus as the culprit due to his recent unreliable streak but decided against it It was a pointless move because Shal or Darke or perhaps both would swiftly return angry at being led around pointlessly and bothered

For now Darke had departed unsatisfied but unwilling to do anything currently

As the nice speaker has said you are the pride of our generation Darke said in a soft voice Of course the Engraving Guild will take no action on a brave and bold participant in the Regional Tournament such as yourself But some of your associates might be brought in for questioning Pay it no mind it is merely routine

The thought of Helen and Teliph within that unassuming man’s grasp or even the other male spear attendant dammit what was his name

What was most disturbing about the whole interaction was that even as Randidly watched the man’s departing back knowing his strength his senses couldn’t pick up on it at all If he hadn’t personally experienced his power Randidly wouldn’t believe that the person was anything other than an average individual

Truly Randidly had been taking the world far too lightly

But the man left and Randidly turned his attention to the matches absently cutting into his arm and focusing on his blood struggling to control it to go back into his body

The first match was between two seeded individuals a man and a woman For the first several minutes they appeared to be evenly matched executing flashy moves which clashed brilliantly dazzling the audience Randidly narrowed his eyes This was such a farce

And as Randidly expected after a few more clashes the man was overpowered and surrendered to the cheers and boos of the audience They were captured by the fervor and power of the combat but Randidly was rather unimpressed It was clear from the very first move that the female participant was strong much stronger than the male

Ciel Tath huh Randidly would need to remember that name She was at an indeterminate level where he was very unsure of his ability to beat her Below Azriel for sure but

The second match was rather boring again between two seeded individuals They were both powerful but from a glance Randidly knew that this was just arranged to showcase these young talents but the ones who arranged the bracket knew that they would lose to Ciel in the next round regardless of who prevailed

Still it was more interesting to watch at least from the perspective that they were at a similar level of strength There was actual strife and drama in the contest Randidly watched memorizing the different moves and images filing them away for later when he had to train alone Truly they were strong Perhaps just as strong as him with their spear

Which was why to win Randidly was going to rely on his less traditional strengths

When the third match was called Randidly once again focused one of the participants was Dian Her red hair stuck out like a brand as she came onto the stage showered with boos from the audience Where Randidly had a strangely positive reaction among the populace led by a strange fan club that had sprung up Dian had instead been reviled

Whether it was the colors of her Tassle her icy demeanor or the lingering rumors about her Style as the student of the Devourer she was public enemy number one in the tournament People spewed hateful venomous filled terms about her looks her spear her clothes

But she met it all with a burning gaze her body filled with energy When the fight began Randidly had wondered how she would fare against stronger foes he needn’t have worried Her strange energy that devoured images had grown strong noticeably stronger than when she had fought him in the preliminaries and she was a half step quicker

Randidly smiled sardonically Although it was annoying to admit her growth was only a hair slower than his own And perhaps not even that it might even exceed him

But again while she could destroy those who relied on images she didn’t have the raw stats to compete directly with this level of spear user Perhaps she had learned that lesson from her fight with Randidly because in this match her energy was much more concentrated doing its best to quickly eat through the other’s Battle Intent and begin to corrode and weaken the opponent’s body directly

Whether the man was weak or the energy was stronger than Randidly could tell from here as soon as the energy reached him he began to panic and retreat away from it trying to open up some space

Dian didn’t let this opening pass and pursued him mercilessly chasing him down and wearing him down with her energy At some point the man realized that she could easily overcome him from a distance with her strange energy and turned around lashing out towards Dian But at that point it was too late She had already ripped away his most powerful images leaving him reeling

The match finished soon after that Randidly’s expression was serious So it seemed that if he beat Bertarn his next opponent would be Dian Although that should reassure him somewhat based on the fact he had fought against her previously and prevailed Randidly could find no solace in the news

Not only was she improving but based on the determined expression on her face Randidly knew that she wouldn’t hesitate to do everything she could to win Her trump that she had previously held back would no doubt manifest itself in their match Well as long as he pushed her that far

Randidly supposed that if he simply lost he would have no need to face it But then he shook his head clearing away such thoughts Her determination was strange It was as if

And at that moment Dian turned to the booing crowd scanning it and after a few seconds her eyes locked onto Randidly They gazed at each other for several seconds Then Dian turned and walked off the stage

Randidly scowled standing and heading towards the underground The meaning of that look was pretty clear The source of her determination it was him But what had he done to earn her ire Was it the Qualifier The defeat in the triple elimination portion of the tournament Was it as simple as the fights between their respective masters

Or perhaps the answer was in the fact that she had come to visit their quarters the prior night asking to see Shal

Either way it was not something he should concern himself with currently there was a match to fight

After a small time for the referee to repair the stage Randidly was led up and brought face to face with the tall well muscled man that was Bertarn His gaze was still calm and respectful as their previous fight It seemed that even after he had obtained a victory against Randidly previously he didn’t let him swell his head He focused on his goal and moved directly towards it

Randidly supposed it was the intelligent decision but a decisive flashy victory here against an opponent who underestimated him would be so much easier In terms of physical specifications even Randidly’s monstrous Stamina and Regeneration might not measure up to the powerful man before him It was clear from every line of his body that a lot of effort went into perfecting his physical form Randidly had no doubt that several of his skills were something like his own Physical Fitness

Thinking Randidly’s mood soured further It was also clear that such a man would be an effective counter to Dian He was a handsome enough fellow and after two harrowing and close battles against the unseeded individuals it was likely projected he would clash against Ciel and lose gracefully

Meanwhile Ciel’s graceful Style was more at a disadvantage against Dian and it would severely weaken the respect that the population had for the Styles if she were to struggle noticeably It was all a stupid elaborate play

Randidly raised his spear Time to throw a fucking wrench in the works

Bertarn’s eyes scanned his opponent There was no fear in this slim dark haired man in front of him which made Bertarn wary He was not a man who took others lightly and was not a genius like some of the other blessed children of the Styles No Bertarn was a man who reached this position through dogged hard work and an unwillingness to give up

His will was iron and with that he had forged a body of steel The Ghosthound had faced him previously and had been swiftly overwhelmed in a direct confrontation Perhaps he had planned something in order to equalize the contest

Although they had fought previously Bertarn knew that was immediately after the Ghosthound had been eviscerated by Azriel Now without those wounds hampering him he would likely be sharper

But still Bertarn breathed in breathed out and then looked directly at his opponent No tricks would matter He had confidence in his body and would demonstrate it by crushing this spear mage

The referee called the beginning of the match and immediately the Ghosthound used the skills he had demonstrated previously creating a Wall of Thorns Sighing and scratching his neck Bertarn walked forwards his spear held loosely at his side Do you really think

But before he could finish the thorns burst apart revealing the Ghosthound who charged forward with blazing eyes Within a second he had arrived before Bertarn who couldn’t believe what he was seeing But then his training kicked in and he narrowed his eyes

A clever ploy and he fell for it getting caught off guard But now the real fight would begin

Chapter 234

Randidly’s spear blurred as he thrust it forward aiming for the center of Bertarn’s mass Although he couldn’t out endure Bertarn if he could give his Flesh Eating Virus a chance to do his work it would make his long term viability much more realistic

Unfortunately although Bertarn was caught off guard he hadn’t totally lost his focus and was able to bring up the shaft of his spear knocking the thrust away So Randidly simply raised his hand and pointed undeterred

Incinerating Bolt

Bertarn’s eyes widened in recognition just as Randidly raised his hand but it was already too late Or at least Randidly had assumed so but he appeared to have underestimated Bertarn’s Agility Twisting wildly Bertarn made it so the bolt of fire only clipped his arm pit sizzling his skin and filling the arena with the smell of burnt flesh but largely preserving the structural integrity of his musculature

Well let’s push a bit harder than shall we ’ Randidly thought to himself

Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth

Behind Bertarn an image of a mountain was already starting to form and he was rapidly regaining his balance even as Randidly struck several times in quick succession after the Incinerating Bolt The only choice was to up the tempo

Randidly’s body hurtled upward and Bertarn calmly stepped backwards avoiding any of the damage But then at the apex of his jump Randidly flexed his arms and flung his obsidian spear downwards creating a monstrous projectile reminiscent of a ballista Bertarn’s calm eyes scanned the descending spear and he raised his spear to meet it

But then his face twisted in a scowl and he roared his fury the mountain behind him wavering slightly stuck between formation and remaining a mirage he had been pierced from below by roots while his attention was elsewhere

Even though the roots were annoying his powerful physical body meant that the wounds were rather shallow He stopped his feet and shook his legs to rip through the roots but at that point the spear arrived Most of the momentum that was to be Randidly’s when he fell to the ground had been transferred to the spear so when the spears clashed there was a huge noise and explosion of force

Bertarn gritted his teeth and stumbled backwards Midair Randidly used the White Phantom’s Half Step moving rapidly closer touching lightly down on the ground right in front of Bertarn Without even a flicker of hesitation Randidly stepped forward under the raised spear of the towering Bertarn arriving in front of him

But Bertarn was still a powerful spear user he quickly sniffed out that Randidly was approaching rapidly even if he didn’t know what his plans were Bertarn brought his spear down in a blow that had the air screaming Displaying a remarkable amount of Grace and flexibility Randidly spun away avoiding the cracked battle ground and arriving only scant inches away from Bertarn’s side

The corners of his mouth quirked up in a smile as Randidly watched Bertarn’s head swivel around to glare balefully at him Truly only one battle a day was best That way he could spend his mana freely without worry

The fire exploded outward burning Bertarn’s skin further Roaring Bertarn managed to grit his teeth through the pain and concussive force only after two steps backwards finding once more his stance The mountain seemed to solidify becoming increasingly real ravines and ridges revealing themselves across its stony surface

Randidly activated Burning Footsteps due to the amount of mana he had to spare but also to inflict a small amount of constant damage to Bertarn should he be able to stay near Although his Physical Defense stats were high Randidly suspected that he was much more susceptible to magic damage

An image of a large clock appeared behind Randidly and low hysterical laughter could be heard echoing Around Randidly a cloak of darkness seemed to descend shrouding his features and his exact position

Randidly’s roots those that had earlier inflicted only a small amount of damage on Bertarn but distracted him at a critical point lifted Randidly’s spear and handed it back to him Immediately Randidly slashed forward

The mountain behind Bertarn seemed to tremble and now it solidified rocks beginning to tumble down its side forming a rockslide Bertarn’s eyes burned as his powerful strike rumbled forward to meet Randidly’s

Randidly grinned The clock ticked ominously

The Idiosyncratic Cut

Bertarn blinked as Randidly’s spear seemed to teleport forward Randidly immediately activated Haste Empower Mana Strengthening and the active form of Yggdrasil’s golden roots raising his striking power to its maximum point After all this skill severely weakened his striking power and Randidly had to be sure to wound Bertarn while he was still thrown off tempo

He needn’t have worried The slash ripped a huge gash across Bertarn’s chest spraying blood everywhere Although Bertarn was strong the obsidian spear was similarly dominating and ripped open his flesh

Randidly stepped forward past Bertarn and out of the way of his strike which made the very air shake with its force

Then he pivoted smoothly and regarded Bertarn his senses picking up the small fizzling noise already coming from Bertarn’s chest

The flesh eating virus was more intimidating than Randidly had imagined It was hard to tell its exact effect but it could probably neutralize a lot of Bertarn’s Health Regeneration But he had only landed one significant wound after expending over 50% of his mana

Randidly moved forward again leaving a trail of flaming footsteps behind him not allowing Bertarn to catch his breath He struck again and again weaving Inevitable Phantom Arrives and the Idiosyncratic Cut together to keep Bertarn from truly grasping his timing More and more small wounds appeared across Bertarn’s body but his expression had frozen into a stoic acceptance his spear moving competently to block Randidly’s advance

But Randidly wouldn’t let him off that easily

Bertarn felt it in the wounds a strange wrongness that began to spread becoming a weakness a slowness This was poison

A part of him was furious at the dishonorable conduct but another part had a deep respect for the Ghosthound He was only passable in terms of spear usage but he could seamlessly strike at Bertarn with his spear while attacking with spells and other skills Bertarn watched his opponent’s spells very closely They were powerful sure but

Then as the Ghosthound’s spear seemed to twist around his own and score another shallow cut on his forearm Bertarn saw it It wasn’t the spells either that made this man so powerful They too were rather unpolished probably at a sub 100 Skill Level The first and more confusing of the two strengths of the Ghosthound was the fact that he seemed to have quite a few stat points and by extension skills

Perhaps even more than Bertarn who had thought he had pushed his body to the limit in terms of the amount of physical skills he could learn before Aether Starvation forced him to take a class There was a breadth of Skills that he had that access to that had all risen to significant if not impressive levels Bertarn suspected the man in front of him had double as many skills as he did

As for the second thing it was as though the Ghosthound didn’t even understand the difficulty of working active skills into his style They moved seamlessly Either he had trained a very long time for this sort of genius level integration or more disturbingly he had waited to learn the spear until he had gained access to his active skills

Those two fields had grown together twining perfectly Which would explain why his spear work was so shallow but also

It also made Bertarn wonder If the Ghosthound had waited to train in the spear until he had a class and also until he pushed himself to a level where he could learn spells He seemed to be in his early 20s so he could at most have been training in the spear for 7 or so years To reach this level of mastery after 7 years

Bertarn smiled bitterly

Again and again the Ghosthound struck his eyes burning emerald using flame and root and spear to wound Bertarn and drive him back The man was also a master at striking where he didn’t expect it keeping Bertarn off his game and unable to hit him with the full force that he could muster He effectively was keeping Bertarn at around 80% of his max strength which was still stronger than the Ghosthound but it was not overpowering enough to make up the difference that was created by the Ghosthound’s spells

Abruptly Bertarn found himself extremely tired He had encountered this a lot in his life this difference between himself and the opponent Despite his training despite his hard work

Sometimes Bertarn found himself face to face with an existence he could only describe as a Genius and all his struggles were futile

Something inside of him folded and Bertarn spoke quietly

Chapter 235

Strangely after Randidly returned to his inn he found Bertarn already waiting for him In the wake of his concession Bertarn had slipped away the man with the towering body covered in muscles moving surprisingly quietly fading away His Style was aghast and furious and the crowd was raving

After all Randidly had worked himself into a rather popular position simply by his identity of a participant not affiliated with the larger Styles This combined with Claptrap’s subtle encouragement of the support for the Ghosthound had led the wider populace to cheer wildly for this upset

But the reception from the Styles was unsurprisingly chilly

Randidly had assumed that Bertarn was the type to sequester himself in a location for a while swearing his vengeance and coming back later He had that sort of insatiable tenacity in the air around him His quick departure Randidly had originally thought was so that he could throw himself into more training

The Bertarn that waited for Randidly at his inn simply seemed profoundly tired He looked up when Randidly arrived and followed Randidly up to his room

Slightly on edge and curious Randidly asked Why are you here

Bertarn’s eyes were hollow and gaunt Although Randidly had put a good amount of pressure on him during the match this level of exhaustion he seemed to have aged several years in the last hour or so Bertarn smiled slightly

Two reasons One I bring a message from the head of my Style the High Mountain Style to you You can consider this a message from all of the Styles of Deardun The second Well Bertarn sighed A personal warning But let’s get to the message first

Dear Randidly Ghosthound Congratulations Bertarn began speaking mechanically You might think us backwards minded and stubborn but we are not enthused that we had underestimated your strength You were not meant to win that match But perhaps that was our own overconfidence in the individual we chose to face you He will be appropriately punished

The way Bertarn delivered these words specifically about his punishment without even a flicker of changing expression made Randidly narrow his eyes But he remained silent as Bertarn continued to recite the message that he had been told to deliver

But you should know that we have watched you very closely Your associations your companions your associations with the renegade Engraving that you have involved yourself in Randidly smiled bitterly That at least explained why the man from the Engraving Guild had had showed up Supposing he hadn’t won as these old codgers planned they undoubtedly would have approached him with a deal to protect Randidly in exchange for his servitude As it hadn’t worked out that way they were now trying to use it as a threat to keep him in line But what did they want

To be frank we are aware with your recent involvement with Azriel with the stated goal of finding a way to beat Drak Wyrd Cease this involvement Drak Wyrd must win the tournament But even more than that Due to political reasons you are not allowed to proceed past the top 8 This should be sufficient to retain the status of your father Style Should you attempt past this level We will destroy you

Bertarn kept the same even delivery even with the final threat Silence reigned for several seconds as Randidly mulled this over He was not unfamiliar with being threatened but this still sent a chill down his spine Randidly suspected that he was truly moving up in the world the people who threatened him this time were a level above the typical schmucks who dared speak out against him

They were even probably at or above the level of Shal and Divveltian Which meant he had to proceed carefully Or acquire new backing something that could give the larger Styles pause Would they actually carry out their threat while he was still in the tournament That was hard to say and Randidly had hoped to be returned to his Cohort immediately on completion of the tournament both to return to his village and to escape the vengeance of the Engraving Guild

Randidly cursed himself for not figuring out the details of such a return earlier It was very important that he be able to figure out how it was done and execute it without the help of the Styles Switching his attention Randidly examined Bertarn who seemed content to simply stand and wait

Why must I not proceed past the top 8 Randidly asked aloud

Bertarn hesitated for a second and then said I am not sure about the exact details But I suspect that it is related to the fact that the Top 4 shall proceed to an Inter School Tournament to determine who shall proceed to face the next Calamity Perhaps your presence would throw off their plans more than they would be willing to allow Plus a Top 8 finish will still give you a token to enter the Spearman School Hall of Records so

Randidly frowned He truly wanted to ask about the Calamity but he suspected that the words would again be blurred out by the strange protection of the System But it did make a certain sense that the Styles would want to control the people who would leave from their Region to the broader tournament

When is the tournament

About a year and a half All of the Regions in all of the Schools will need to finish their own tournaments and travel there Bertarn said But as I said try to put that out of mind If you actually dare cross them they won’t hesitate In fact they might even intervene directly after the match Although they would risk public opinion turning against them if it was done out of sight

Bertarn fell silent Randidly chuckled Truly bullies would be bullies no matter where it was

What of you You’ve already given plenty warnings what more do I have to be worried about Randidly asked sarcastically After all they were in a tournament He was well aware of the dangers associated with the fighting and retribution from other sources in the wake of the results

Bertarn was silent for several seconds but then said slowly It is strange Almost as if it was a dream But immediately after I accepted it and lost I thought I could hear a whisper Telling me to reach out and take the strength I needed to win To steal it To become a Devourer

Shivering Bertarn shook his head and looked at Randidly Even now I half believe that I imagined this voice But at the moment I felt it A wild and vicious strength I could have if I traded away my honor just beyond my fingertips

Sighing Bertarn fell silent Randidly scratched his head

If you didn’t take it why are you telling me this

So you will take care with your next opponent Bertarn said snapping out of his reverie She is the disciple of the Devourer It would make sense if she had the ability to bring others to her path I am satisfied with my own abilities but others in the tournament especially when the finish line is so close Even if you win I suspect she will continue to try and intervene against you holding that grudge for as long as she lives

Bertarn gave Randidly a serious look Perhaps it would be for the best if you kill her in your match

After Bertarn left Randidly sat and meditated Too many forces were moving in too many directions It was hard to keep track of which ones were worth following In addition forces were now trying to act on even his free time keeping him from advancing He had a few thoughts about avoiding their detection but

It would be slightly time consuming There was a break between this match in the next two free days where he could work But work on avoiding detection was time he wasn’t working on actually increasing his ability to succeed in a fight Gritting his teeth Randidly cursed his own weakness

In a way he cursed himself for being drawn out to this Cohort and his stubborn honor for demanding he throw himself into this impossible task It ended up vastly increasing his strength across the board but it had taken more than two years of his life Although he had some suspicions that Vitality would keep him from aging outwardly that wasn’t the point

It wasn’t vanity that made Randidly slightly bitter it was homesickness For a place he had spent only a few scant months But he had spent that time building something He wasn’t likely to quickly forget that time From their perspective Randidly had spent as much time there as he had away as several months had passed Not that he thought they would forget about him or had the strength to ignore the new him if he wished to but

Sighing Randidly leaned back With the rest of tonight and the two days tomorrow there were several things he needed to do The first was investigate how to return to his Cohort and the second was work on his basic physical passive skills Physical Fitness Flexibility of the White Hunters and Grace These skills would give him more variety and smooth transitions in his fighting style

In the fight with Bertarn it became very clear that while Bertarn faired very well against a single spell when Randidly started switching among them very quickly Bertarn soon faltered If he could leverage that strength It was likely due to his high Control and it made Randidly make a mental note to do the Path of Control next

As for whether he should pursue the way to hide himself from detection and continue to have interactions with Azriel Her training was extremely valuable due to her great strength and after only a single time of interaction he had gained a dozen or so skill levels That was even before she had a comprehensive idea about his skills Randidly had no doubt that she had carefully watched his match against Bertarn and would use it to refine a training regimen to make him more versatile and surprising

After all the goal was for him to make Drak Wyrd serious even if just for a moment so Azriel’s eyes could analyze him

Plus she was really pretty It was dumb for him to think of now but

Randidly sighed He had always done dumb things around pretty women Although in the past before Tessa the dumb things he had done mainly involved being super standoffish and weird making them avoid him but still

So Randidly resolved himself immediately to working on his ability to escape detection He got out several sheets of paper a pen and then the Encyclopedias given to him by the Willow Tree Spear Style It was time to study and attack that Shadow IV Engraving

Chapter 236

The crowd milled about the stands unsure of why there were signs put up indicating there would be entertainment available in the arena today Yesterday had been the matches to determine the top 16 so according to the schedule there should be two days of break for the people to wander around the city and enjoy the festival like atmosphere Why did the referees signal something would be occurring here today

Claptrap’s smile was sly as he walked up with the male spear attendant and the head referee This was actually an idea that he had come up with on his own but when he approached the Ghosthound he was surprised to find that he already knew of such programming and offered some very concrete advice for increasing the success of his idea

The referee coughed awkwardly then began to speak in halting tones Ah well we are here today to offer to you the err the supporters of the Northern Regional Tournament for some analysis in the wider tournament

The referee gave Claptrap a pleading look who simply looked on impassively They had already come to an agreement so why was he dragging his feet

So uh here they are The referee finished lamely Claptrap cursed inwardly but gestured and a dozen or so of his employees rushed out erecting a small raised platform off the stage with a table Claptrap walked over and sat down with the male spear attendant

The one thing the Ghosthound had been very clear about is that they needed to take on different roles Not just their usual personality but in terms of what they were saying One guy needed to constantly blow things out of proportion while the other needed to offer commentary based more in fact and reel the other one in Claptrap wanted to start refining his image as a competent head of his company so insisted that the male spear attendant be the hype guy But he was a little worried about how easily the male spear attendant would accept his role

Realizing the audience was staring awkwardly at them Claptrap opened his mouth to speak but the male spear attendant beat him to the punch

This The male spear attendant bellowed standing and smashing his fist down cracking the table Is perhaps the greatest Regional Tournament the Northern Region has had in 100 years

Claptrap’s eyelid twitched at the damage to the table The audience began to whisper to each other wide eyed

The the last 100 Claptrap said weakly trying to establish himself but once more the male spear attendant bellowed

NO You are right friend The last 500 years For the last 100 Regional Tournaments I have no doubt in my mind that the concentration of heroic spear users we have now can be rivaled Truly it is the golden age to live in the Northern Region of the Spearman School

The people were more excited now smiling and nodding Truly there hadn’t been

Interrupting his own thoughts Claptrap began to vocalize Truly there hasn’t been so many upsets and powerful contestants of note in a long time Which is why we are here today folks We now are down to our best 16 and I think we should take a long look at each one of them examining their fighting style and making predictions on the outcome of matches So why don’t we start with

As Claptrap continued to speak his eyes scanned the stands as people watched with rapt attention speaking in low tones to each other and then turning back for the analysis All the while they purchased concessions food and ale

Claptrap could practically feel the gold filling his pockets

Helen sat on the ground meditating still nursing a burning anger towards Randidly’s dismissive attitude towards her the prior night The fury had shrunk but its core was perhaps heating up even further the longer she mulled over it because while she was mad

A small stream of Aether flowed into her filling her with strength Ever since he had touched her back and she had instinctively accepted the gift he was giving her Aether was constantly flowing into her And it wasn’t the same as the stiff almost unhealthy thing she now regarded the Aether from villages to be but it was pure and accepting She could easily shape it strengthening her images and body

Her ability to level skills increased by leaps and bounds It was truly a godsend Her level under the tutelage of Divveltian rapidly improved to the level where Helen believed that if they could travel back in time she could participate in the tournament herself and achieve modest results

Which in fact only made her fury grow more vicious Did Randidly think that she could be placated with Aether and he didn’t need to respect her That fucking piece of shit she would rip off his dirty Aether dick and sell it to the highest bidder

But now he had disappeared perhaps following the footsteps of Shal and Claptrap and the male spear attendant were practicing being clowns in front of the audience Teliph was strong but his continued Aether Sickness meant that he couldn’t really spar with her for extended periods of time to work off her anger especially now as her growth became explosive

So she was forced to sit alone waiting

There was a knock on the door

Come in Helen said warily Who among the pieces who knew where she was staying would knock

The door opened and Ikaas stood there awkwardly Helen wondered idly if her mother had sent her cousin but she was at least enough of distraction from the brooding that she brought Ikaas into the room and gave her some of Claptrap’s ale to drink

Why did you come Helen asked bluntly

Ikaas blushed Do do you remember how Islinda would hire an individual to accompany us when we would go out

Helen’s mouth twitched Yes she did recall how her mother would insist that they take one of the half way decent spear users among their distant relations when they would meet men for dates’ where they would be trotted around like ponies It was fucking dumb and she would tell her mother this at every available opportunity but her mother would insist there was safety in numbers

Which wasn’t wrong but these were cowardly men that Helen could beat black and blue even before she had experienced her most recent boost Before she had run away from her family entered the qualifier and met Randidly

Yes what of it Helen said offhandedly but as soon as she did so she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach Ikaas sent here alone to her Asking if she recalled the stupid chaperone rule Right after her mother had witnessed her fight off Kanan

She had to give her mother this she would make use of any tool she could to accomplish her goals Even her own daughter Especially her own daughter Except the only problem now was that Helen wasn’t sure what her mother’s goal was If Helen’s strength became known there would be fewer small powers similar to the leatherworking district she grew up in that would be willing to offend them There would even likely be suitors to relatives like Ikaas

But that was too shallow and Helen knew it That was her one great vexation with her mother For all that she believed her to be a foolish bitch she took the long view in a way that Helen had never been able to manage

Would you would you be willing to chaperone me Ikaas asked weakly her eyes already wet with tears at the thought of being rejected Helen could only sigh

Which is how she found herself accompanying Ikaas and a man from some Style out to dinner To her mother’s credit the man seemed passably attractive in a large bulky sort of way and was genuinely interested in Ikaas as a potential match Apparently he had seen her wandering the market and been captivated by her beauty

He had even kept the amount of furtive looks he had given Helen to less than three before he devolved into an animated conversation with Ikaas To his credit they had even been more speculative as in sizing her battle strength up rather that dismissive or lustful

With nothing else to do Helen could only sip her ale and listen in on their conversation unwillingly learning more about him His name was Turn and he was a very minor disciple at one of the 4 largest Styles in Deardun In terms of potential he was just average but he had impressed a high level disciple by risking his body to protect a child Due to this act he was brought in and given instruction

It was too much to say his potential had blossomed but he had proceeded to grow at a nice pace and the skills of the Style were well suited to him If he continued to perform well his instructors had told him he would be taught a 3 skill Skillset which would boost his combat power and future potential immensely

Recently he had been toying with heading to the frontlines after seeing how powerful some individuals his age could be through the tournament and

On and on Helen waved for another drink

Um cousin don’t you think you keep ordering the most expensive ale Ikaas said nervously

Feeling slightly drunk and very irritable Helen simply waved her hand Nah I get free ale I know a guy

Oh well do you think Turn began good naturedly but eyeing the high end ale with envy but Ikaas hurriedly stepped on his toes and whispered several things in quick succession to him He immediately blanched and shut up

Helen nodded very pleased with this This sort of reaction she could get used to it And this sort of ale

Huhuhu Turn on a date are you A voice behind her rumbled Helen twisted around in her seat and looked up and then up farther because the man behind her towered over her Then she blinked because she recognized the man

Ah Helen pointed You are fucking Bertarn Must suck to be knocked out of the Tournament Have an ale

Chapter 237

Around her everyone at the table froze Ikaas with shock more than anything else seeming to have recognized Bertarn as well but aghast that Helen would talk so directly to him Turn was torn between laughing and growling in anger and his face was twisted in a very amusing fashion

But of them all Bertarn was the most amusing His face was completely blank as he seemed to struggle that someone would have the gall to say this to him More than that a woman said it to him Well perhaps he didn’t think that Helen allowed but he certainly looked like the type who had been hiding some sort of sexism Maybe he wanted to slap a wench’s ass while she worked in the kitchen

Contrary to her expectations Betarn didn’t seem to get mad at all after he had a few seconds to process her reaction Instead he began to laugh a deep belly laugh that had him bending over and slapping his knee Turn seemed even more taken aback than Helen at his reaction and Ikaas just laughed awkwardly along with him carried away by her nerves

Helen’s mouth twitched Truly the girl spent more time with her mother than was good for her Slowly frayed away your ability to think for yourself Although he seemed incredibly boring Turn would be a good balance for her

Straightening Bertarn said Well yes it does suck And thank you I’ll have an ale

As if this was the most natural thing in the world he pulled up a chair and waved a hand It seemed that this man was more famous than Helen had given him credit for because a waiter instantly scrambled over looking delighted at the chance to take Bertarn’s order

Helen supposed she had really known his fame but it was so hard to keep track of all the different people that Randidly beat in the tournament

Like a bucket of ice cold water it hit her that her association with him had changed her in incredible ways He had opened doors that she never would have been able to do otherwise Her strength too in her chest the warm slender flow of Aether twined around her heart

Fucking asshole It was annoying to stay mad at him when he was just so fucking useful

So who are you two lovely ladies Bertarn asked politely smiling at Ikaas before turning his gaze curiously to Helen

She shrugged I’m here chaperoning these two fucking love birds And drinking while I’m at it

Bertarn’s eyes changed slightly and Helen knew that he had noticed her omission of any real information about herself But he nodded as if this was fine Indeed Well it is truly a tragedy that such a pretty lady needs to drink alone After my loss I have some free time Perhaps we could make this a double date

Randidly tsk’d to himself tossing aside his most recent Engraving attempt Although he had the idea down his ability to Engrave was not yet at a high enough level to manage the Shadow IV rune It was both a matter of control and sensitivity the detail associated with the rune was bewilderingly complex even in the curves

After several attempts Randidly gleaned that the rune was actually made by drawing the lines effectively twice once forwards once backwards layering the lines onto it in a complex way

What it ended up being was an exceedingly painful headache It was hard to tell with any surety how the two lines interacted and layered on each other Randidly simply didn’t have enough experience discerning how they interacted On that front the 2nd volume of the encyclopedias he had been given seemed to be very helpful but that was rough sledding Studying those tomes took time and perhaps it was due to the presence of the tournament but Randidly didn’t have much patience to spare

Randidly had spent most of the last day walking around the perimeter of Deardun’s walls practicing his Engraving and Living Blood trying to familiarize himself with his more recent skill acquisitions so he would feel comfortable working them into fights

Finding a nice patch overlooking a river Randidly sat down and took stock of his gains over the past two days He had been so focused on improving himself that he hadn’t really spent any of his PP leaving him with a sizable amount

Randidly had gained 7 Skill Lvls in Living Blood 4 in Meditation and Bacterial Regeneration 3 in Incinerating Bolt 2 in Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth and Grace 1 lvl in Flexibility of the White Hunters Circle of Flame and White Phantom’s Half Step 3 in Haste and Empower 2 in Heavy Blow and Flesh Eating Virus 5 in Mana Engraving and Weeping Cloud 4 in Burning Footsteps 2 in Hammer of the Dawn and Superiority and a surprising 11 in Weather Affinity

Randidly believed that the levels in Weather Affinity were due to the fact he had spent the last day moving creating rain clouds and feeling the soft relaxing drops of rain spread across his skin while he Engraved During his frustrating failures he had considered the sky a lot Although Shal’s world was somewhat different from his own there didn’t seem to be any strange weather patterns Clouds sun breeze it all was the same A strange fact when Randidly thought about it but likely a good one

It just seemed statistically unlikely that two such climates would exist Admittedly it was hard to say whether his Vitality and Endurance had risen to the point where he could survive in other more extreme climates but he was likely close

All in all he had earned a fair amount of PP Unfortunately he hadn’t made any real headway on the Shadow IV rune It was simply a few orders too advanced for his current self So after he had spent his remaining PP and earned another Blessing of the Murderous Cold Randidly finally addressed the issue he had been avoiding by working on his Engraving

Should he go meet Azriel again

On the one hand he wanted to She while Shal was off doing god knows what would give him some pointers and direction She seemed to be genuinely working to help him which still left Randidly feeling slightly suspicious but he was willing to accept it based on her actions thus far

On the other hand Randidly’s encounter with the Engraving Guild reminded him that his power was only suitable to face those at a similar age to him With a powerful Vitality there were monsters out there that were probably hundreds of years old just constantly grinding their skill level

In terms of sincerity he knew he had some breathing room with the larger Styles as long as the tournament continued The question was how long after that he would have to wait after the tournament ended before he could transfer back to his home Cohort Based on the inquiries he had made earlier in the day it actually wasn’t that expensive the only problem was a village needed to build a Grand Teleportal in order to move between Cohorts And the closest one was at the abandoned village that formed the core of the Qtal region

Even being optimistic Randidly knew that he would need to travel 48 hours at reasonable speed in order to arrive at the portal Which when pursued by annoyed upper tier experts from Deardun was a little

Probably a little too far especially as his efforts to prepare an avenue of stealth through the Shadow IV rune failed It was also hard to discern how effective such a measure would be After all these powerful individuals were clearly beyond his ability to deal with in terms of combat and especially spear use But their supporting stats their detection skills

It was possible that they were prepared with sharp reflexes for a direct fight but magic would buy Randidly some precious time But all of this was conjecture He supposed he could ask Divveltian but

Sighing Randidly stood Divveltian had taken Shal’s departure rather hard and was wandering about the city coming in and out of their inn muttering to himself He seemed intent on finding Shal but he wouldn’t speak of why it was so pressing Randidly even had thoughts of breaching the subject of an Aether Donation with him but this new Divveltian made him wary

There was also Dian to worry about Bertarn wasn’t the type to lie and his stories about that impulse to reach out and seize a foreign power gave Randidly pause His initial reaction was to believe that the Creature was beginning to move but somehow this felt different Less powerful less insidious More of the temptations of a common street prostitute than the seductive way the creature had wormed herself into Randidly previously

Besides he didn’t seem to be the target If anything Based on what Bertarn said it was anyone BUT him that was targeted

Was it truly Dian reaching out to the rest of the competition But it seemed an incredibly inefficient way to target him

Of what are you thinking Your anxiety is quite clear on your face If you were like this in a battle it would be simple to destroy you

Randidly blinked and turned to find Azriel and her bone white hair standing behind him on the wall peering at him

How how did you

Your female spear attendant I accosted her and Bertarn while they were on a date She told me to look for the wandering cloud Azriel pointed up to the small grey cloud still raining down on them

So She continued her eyes burning Why are you avoiding me

Chapter 238

There was something extremely dangerous in Azriel’s voice when she spoke A strange wariness towards Randidly that hadn’t been there before After a slight hesitation Randidly shrugged and decided not to overthink it

I was warned to stay away from you by Deardun’s Styles I was thinking about what to do this past day

Azriel snorted To think those old fools would even bother to follow up with you They make something out of nothing It is not as though my master truly wishes to change the seat of power in the North

Cocking his head to the side Randidly was inwardly very glad that he didn’t plan on remaining in Shal’s world for much longer than was necessary to repay his debts Still remaining after he finished the tournament would be his debt to the Willow Tree Spear Style who gave him the Engraving books and made him promise to help seek revenge against the Engraving Guilds but realistically Randidly would need to come back to that It was a goal that he could not shoulder at present

Then Randidly blinked Wait female spear attendant did Azriel mean Helen Helen was on a DATE

Well anyway let me assure you nothing will come of it By the time of the next match my master will have arrived in the Deardun and it will be able to protect you

Randidly was once again jarred away from his train of thought rather abruptly It

For the first time since Randidly had seen the beautiful woman Azriel looked uneasy Yes it Perhaps it might seem strange to you but my master was originally a quest monster that has gained sentience and independence from the System after a fashion It has even received a class which should assuage any worries you might have

Worries that he didn’t really have until Azriel acted though it was very reasonable for him to have worries Well it’s not as though Randidly had a particularly adverse reaction to monsters Honestly for the longest time he had considered some of the residents of Shal’s world monsters based on their colored skin how about 1 in 10 had a third eye and how the physical proportions of their body was far beyond what a human body would be able to equal

Although Randidly had fought and killed the Tribulations too it wasn’t as though he had any particular gripe with them They were just monsters that seemed pretty clearly out to kill him

And anyway the term monster

Again you frown like an elderly matchmaker planning for her daughter Azriel announced a small smile on her face You wear your emotions far too openly Luckily your battle lust covers up most of that but still Something to keep in mind Anyways let’s begin We can fight here

Uh wait Randidly said raising his hands Although your master is undoubtedly powerful I don’t want to offend

Nonsense no one will even remember they bothered to say something to you after I win the tournament Azriel said removing her spear from her spatial ring with a flourish Unless you doubt my chances

Randidly just shook his head This sort of shameless direct person was exactly the type that he had the hardest time dealing with Annoyed that she was making the decision for him but curious if his stat gains would make any difference Randidly removed his spear and prepared for the battle ahead

As a start signal Azriel gave him an impish smile and then disappeared

Two days later at dawn of the day of the Top 16 matches Randidly woke groggily His body

He groaned Azriel was not only extremely powerful with her spear but she was also extremely energetic It made Randidly wonder what level her Vitality was at because even boosted as he was by the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil she was always a step ahead in terms of recovery time

Honestly he was beginning to suspect she had several rather rare skills ones powerful enough to rival his own if not in quantity in quality It was a frightening thought and made Randidly even more curious about her opponent the person who everyone considered even more powerful

He hadn’t been there to see it but the analysis and interviews that Claptrap had done for his impromptu talk show had overwhelmingly demonstrated that public opinion was behind Drak Wyrd every step of the way The only real question was who would face him and that was almost universally decided to be Azriel although some suggested two others on her side of the bracket

Neither of which of course was Randidly But he didn’t mind being underestimated After all his attention was focused solely on one individual right now Dian the disciple of the Devourer

Although Azriel had wanted to focus more on training up some of Randidly’s recently neglected skills he had insisted they focus on the basics to help out in his fight against Dian Azriel relented partially but due to that fact Randidly’s skills across the board had gone through a nice little boost these past two days His body was faster stronger and more controlled With this level of strength he had no doubts in his mind that he was able to overpower the Dian he had faced previously

Pleased Randidly looked at his stats

Health(/R per hour) 1322/1473 (+118) (608 (+27

Mana(/R per hour) 649/1506 (+5) (174 75 (+9

Stam(/R per min) 1233/1525 (237 (+9

Vit 169 (+9)

End 77

Str 119 (+17)

Agi 150 (+17)

Perception 108 (+10)

Reaction 142

Resistance 105 (+15)

Willpower 152 (+10)

Intelligence 109

Wisdom 62 (+9)

Control 214

Focus 165 (+4)

Skills (Soul Skill) Four Shaded Clockwork World Lvl 397

Combat Spear Mastery Lvl 119 White Phantom’s Half Step (Un) Lvl 49 Heavy Blow Lvl 66 Dagger Mastery Lvl 10 Iron Skin Lvl 47 Dodge Lvl 65 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 88 Block Lvl 48 Haste Lvl 76 Phantom Onslaught Lvl 43 Sweep Lvl 54 Spear Deflect Lvl 10 Empower Lvl 95 Calculated Blow Lvl 66 Roundhouse Kick Lvl 36 Flesh Eating Virus (Un) Lvl 55 Idiosyncratic Cut (Un) Lvl 65 Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth Lvl 39 Battle Intent Lvl 97 Struggle Lvl 71 Body Control Freeze Lvl 17 The Golden Roots of Yggdrasil Lvl 45 Stalemate Breaker Lvl 15

The 7 Kata of the Ashen Spear The Spear Advances Ash Trails Lvl 24

The 6 Signs of the Spear Phantom ® The First Sign The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Lvl 83 (Un) The Fifth Sign The Spear Phantom’s Embrace ® Lvl 137

Spells Spearing Roots Lvl 36 Mana Bolt Lvl 28 Mana Shield Lvl 26 Root Control Lvl 95 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 64 Wall of Thorns Lvl 17 Soul Seed ® Agony Lvl 47 Inspiration ® Incinerating Bolt Lvl 73 Circle of Flame Lvl 44 Plantomancy Lvl 29 The Weeping Cloud ® Lvl 64 Hammer of the Dawn Lvl 6 Burning Footsteps Lvl 10

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 69

Auxiliary Physical Fitness Lvl 83 Meditation Lvl 80 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 35 Grace Lvl 47 Bacterial Regeneration Lvl 90 Superiority Lvl 28 Mental Fortitude Lvl 45 Second Wind Lvl 55 Weather Affinity Lvl 43 Clockwork Mastery Lvl 16 Rejection Lvl 36 Aether Connection Lvl 3 Flexibility of the White Hunters ® Lvl 22 Living Blood (Un) Lvl 13

Level UP 2 stat 1 P Def 1 M Supp +1 Control 6 health 7 mana +7 Stamina (+ 5 regen per level) (+1 Health and Stamina Regen per level)

Bonuses +2% Concentration +2% hearing and vision range +1% size Immunity +1%

Although at the same time looking at his Status made Randidly grimace He was only 5 PP away from finishing off the Initiate of Ash II Path However two things held Randidly back First he really was incredibly sore pushing himself to this point over the past two days They would definitely focus more efforts on skills should he win this match

Second Randidly still remembered his previous experience with the Patron of Ash To meet that one again Randidly believed he needed to set aside some time for that

Then Randidly shook his head ruefully Why did he simply assume that they would continue to train after this match He enjoyed it but it just still struck him as slightly odd Azriel’s logic for why she needed to help him train made sense in one way But there just seemed like a dozen or so ways that she could avoid this hassle