LoRG 1

She had a few ideas how she could do it again but there wasn’t any point in doing it currently there were no monsters lurking around the corner Just one awkward situation that everyone in the village seemed to have forgotten about for now

After gazing back towards the village center for several minutes she looked back towards Randidly The thread connecting them had almost completely dispersed so that there was nothing left Opening her Eyes of Wonder she saw him perhaps exactly how he was Tired and the light he cast was much much dimmer

But the core of that flame was still a brilliant emerald He hadn’t given up even though his reserves were almost completely empty

What did it mean now that she had hastened the destruction of their connection by designating Tykes as the new village Blade Would her fascinating with him disappear Would he continue to treat her so mildly

Turning back to her new village Blade she considered him closely Although Nul had been punished by his choice Lyra sincerely doubted that a similar thing would happen to her After all the momentum and waves around him especially during this bout with Randidly had bound him very tightly to Donnyton’s fate which had prompted her to make her move It was easy as breathing giving him that designation and he had immediately risen from the ground keeping Donnyton in the fight

Now all that remained to be seen was who his Sheath would be She stopped using Eyes of Wonder and simply felt The threads of momentum gathering but it wasn’t here It was to the South Lyra looked in that direction for several seconds her eyes glowing violet Then she turned back to the arena

Regardless of what they were now Lyra would stand and witness this man who had shown her what true beauty was Whether or not he won or lost she would watch every second of it

Randidly bared his teeth in almost a snarl His opponents were almost at full strength while he was running on ? of his usual stamina with no more secret stornes to draw on His mana was almost completely gone perhaps enough for several smaller spells or one big one

And they weren’t giving him enough time for his monstrous regeneration rates and skills to make up the difference

Roaring Dozer led the charge this time club raised Kayle and Decklan glided swiftly after him ready to swoop in at the slightest opening Donny ran directly behind Dozer his golden skill spreading to them all

It would make it difficult to deal significant enough damage to put any out of commission but Randidly wanted to experiment a little with its effects before he committed too heavily

But the wide swing taken by Dozer was not something that Randidly wanted to trifle with especially now He stepped forward activating only Empower using a tiny amount of stamina to rush into Dozer’s range Still Dozer’s arms swung forward smashing towards Randidly’s chest

With another Empowered step Randidly ducked under that and past him eyes narrowing as two glimmering lines of light raced towards him

But Randidly didn’t take another step within the range of those slashes from Kayle and Decklan Instead he turned and slammed his fist into Dozer’s side aiming for the kidneys The yellow runes absorbed around 25% of the damage which flowed back toward Donny who grunted lightly The rest pierced through the spell and hit Dozer who didn’t even respond Randidly had been aware that Dozer Decklan and Donny had all reached Lvl 30 and gotten a class skill Dozer’s he recalled had been called Constitution of the Troll a passive skill that had vastly increased his defense and regeneration

Combined with Donny’s skill it let Dozer easily shrug off attacks off this level As Randidly watched he simply turned back reaching out to grab at him

He used this time to punch again catching Dozer in the stomach Still the spell was too effective it wasn’t enough to damage him in the slightest Kayle raced forward trying to take advantage of the distraction but Randidly flicked a Phantom Thrust forward catching Kayle in the sternum throwing him backwards

Dozer twisted just bring his arm down in a chopping blow and Randidly pivoted raising his pole and deflecting the blow away The force caused to the wood to vibrate dangerously

Donny stayed back but Paolo came then fists swinging He had apparently been holding back slightly before because there was a sharpness to his movements that was new or perhaps he had gained some skill levels over the course of the fight As it was without Haste and Empower Randidly had a hard time keeping up with them all and he mostly allowed the glancing blows to land They would leave bruises but

As Decklan rushed in on the other side and Dozer pulled back for another blow Randidly saw his chance He lashed out with a Roundhouse kick aiming for Paolo’s side The man responded quickly his eyes narrowing and he made the very ballsy decision to catch the kick taking the damage to lock Randidly down for a short time

Randidly smiled Exactly as planned

Even before Paolo had completely grabbed the leg Randidly’s other leg was raised Before Paolo even saw it he stepped on his face kicking off and throwing himself backwards Although the spell absorbed some of the force the brutal kick’s effectiveness could be seen in Paolo’s dizzy eyes as he fell back

Flying backwards now from the force of the kick Randidly twisted around aiming to catch Decklan But Dozer had recovered and stepped in the way Decklan landed lightly on Dozer’s back watching Randidly shoot towards them Dozer’s eyes glowed as he swung his club at Randidly’s midair form

Swearing quietly Randidly twisted using some mana to press a root upward which he used as a stepping stone to leap to the side Unfortunately Decklan saw this as it was happening and ripped forward knives raised

Twisting further Randidly used the pole to deflect the attacks but felt two long knives sink deeply into his back One even punctured his lung

Randidly tapped on the ground and then jumped farther away Grinding his teeth he considered his opponents Fighting without enough stamina to use Phantom Half Step severely limited his mobility He had become entirely too dependant on potions He wasn’t used to simply fighting among enemies without them

Grunting he removed the knives from his back while his opponents circled around him

The main problem was Dozer and Donny Donny’s skill protected Dozer enough that Randidly’s force was reduced to a level he could force his way through it The rest of the Classers Randidly could hurt Dozer he could not hurt

But getting to Donny meant going through Dozer Dozer was the pillar in their midst that kept the formation alive He interfered with Randidly’s strikes and was the one who bore the brunt of the damage As long as that continued Randidly would spent his stamina uselessly

Paolo shook his head regaining some of his clarity Decklan drew two more long knives one of which was the knife that Randidly had given him all that time ago Dozer lumbered forward He previous strikes had rapidly reduced their fighting force but the Classers in front of him had not been swayed They still held tightly almost grimly onto hope

So now was time to gamble huh

Randidly smiled at Dozer raising the pole The Spear Advances Ash Trails

Mrs Hamilton felt her hands tighten into fist as the Ghosthound spoke So he finally decided to play his last card huh

The Ghosthound ultimately was not able to equal Donnyton’s forces in an extended confrontation There was simply too many of them capable of skills So he had used a series of vicious bursts to reduce their staying power whittling away their will That had left this group who had enough health and stamina to push through his area of effect skills They needed to be dealt with individually and at great cost

Of them all of course the tanks were the real problem If they weren’t there he could continue to use bursts to attack As it were they would just endure it and then crush him

So he was forced to this

With an impossible powerful explosion of fire and ash the Ghosthound shot forward pole raised towards Dozer The speed with which he traveled made reactions impossible The two figures smashed together and just as quickly parted with a crack

Dozer stumbled and spat out a mouthful of blood

The Ghosthound skipped forward bleeding off some of his speed and stopped and turned looking at them with glowing eyes There was an anger there and an unwillingness

With exaggerated slowness the Ghosthound raised his hand holding it above his head A smoldering fire began to form

Inspiration His words were raw and angry Dozer turned and raised his club barely maintaining his stance Donny rushed forward to stand by him and activated Aegis The other three ran behind the tanks

Surprising everyone even herself Mrs Hamilton said Can you see how much they want this victory Randidly

Those violent hungry emerald eyes turned towards her the fire held above the Ghosthound’s head slowly glowing brighter He smiled

But then everything dimmed all at once The Ghosthound let his hand fall they don’t need to want it any longer they have won

Without another word the Ghosthound dropped the pole and walked away out of the arena and towards the treeline People parted unsure of what just happened

What just happened Sam gasped He gave up

Mrs Hamilton took a very long breath in and out and then shook her head slowly As the Ghosthound slowly walked he passed the area where the defeated squads stood there was a strange tension Then abruptly a man stepped forward

The squad leader of Squad III stepped towards the Ghosthound then bowed Thank you for your guidance

Behind him in a wave all of the defeated classers bowed Thank you

It was a dull thunder Echoing out filling the silence these two words were everything that they wanted to say to this man He started the village he protected them he taught them about classes and skills and then he showed them how weak they were and also how strong they could be

And so the people said Thank You

The Ghosthound walked not acknowledging the words just walking into the forest He had said everything he had to say already with that pole He had explained clearly what he had expected from them what demanded from the squads in the name of Donnyton’s defense

And to that pole Mrs Hamilton pointed It could be say that the Ghosthound lost to the situation more than anything else

Daniel snorted What is he going to be a sore loser about the numbers now Why

No you idiot An annoyed Annie nursing a brutal headache said Look at the pole It broke when it hit Dozer

Daniel blinked Sure enough the poles tip had cracked a good ? falling to the ground around the site of the blow With that much of the force dispersed it was still enough to blast through Donny’s defensive skill and heavily wound Dozer

But it wasn’t enough to put Dozer out of commission The pillar had not fallen And for whatever reason the Ghosthound had stayed his hand at the last second letting them off

Chapter 107

Daniel sighed I hope this isn’t one of those situations that he will swear vengeance go train in the woods for a month and come back and do it again only to gloriously succeed

Annie rolled her eyes leaving to go check on the hobbling Dozer and Mrs Hamilton chuckled I think you read too many fantasy books

Giving her a skeptical look Daniel said Do you really want to underestimate the Ghosthound

No I think he will grow more powerful than I can understand But it’s still a numbers game Mrs Hamilton spread her hands wide Sure he might grow faster than one person but what about two people Three people 10 people 50 He cannot out level an entire village The population of Donnyton will now control the destiny of this town although there’s no doubt that the Ghosthound will always play an important role

A dull bang sounded and the talking ceased as everyone turned to look at the source of the noise Donny He stood tall and now it was clear how exhausted he was his youthful face lined with worry But it was brightened by a joyful smile

Classers of Donnyton Do not rejoice Although we won there is no reward only more work We fought the Ghosthound for the dubious honor of being the last line of defense the ultimate shield that protects everyone who lives in Donnyton now and will come to live here

Rejoice He continued eyes glittering We have won more work

We won

The shout came from Tykes who had just regained consciousness looking around wildly his eyes wide As Donny looked at him although Tykes was 2 years older than him his face softened as if looking at a promising grandson

Yes we won Now who’s prepared to meet with Decklan Dozer and I to talk about their performance in these trials Mrs Hamilton has apparently been taking exceedingly detailed notes

Mrs Hamilton smiled kindly at them all as the Classers turned to look at her with mounting horror She coughed lightly We should start immediately There is a LOT to go over

Randidly looked at his hands then clenched them gritting his teeth

It’s so bitter He whispered His eyes were to his surprise wet with tears Randidly hadn’t cried since since walking home from his talk from Tessa But he had been resolved then just like he was resolved now although he felt slightly helpless

Not that the loss bothered him so much

Which in fact was a lie It bothered him a lot These people had none of the head start that he had of that long 7 months alone with Shal training against monsters that could kill him as quickly as looking at him And yet already as they grouped together after a month they could defeat him This was supposed to be his chance to demonstrate his superior strength to show them how powerful one individual had been

It was a lesson and a small revenge and a stress relief and 1000 other small reasons that he wasn’t truly aware of He was simply sure that it was something that he wanted to do

Yet they were stronger than him which he had never expected Or at least strong enough push him so far that he had two choices Either admit defeat or

Which was the other reason that Randidly was so upset in that moment after his pole broke on Dozer he knew that struggling to fight normally would not work he was at too much of a numerical disadvantage If he wanted to win he had to drop all unwillingness to kill them in order to win

So he had raised his hand prepared to use an Inspired Circle of Flames to wipe them away and claim victory When Mrs Hamilton said Can you see how much they want this victory Randidly what Randidly actually heard from her was slightly different

Can you see how much you want this victory Randidly

That raw anger he had gained in Franksburg had almost driven him to kill the fruits of a month of labor Donnyton’s finest wiped out in a wave of fire Who knows too how many other casualties they would have suffered

And so Randidly cried hot tears because he felt weak He did not blame the anger only because of it had he fought that long against impossible odds What he blamed was his basic skills which were not enough to support him

He was too weak He had almost made a mistake and let the anger control him

Wiping away his tears Randidly once more looked at his hands

It had been such an innocuous noise the small crack that had sounded when he used brute force to knock aside the Iron ball wielded by that brown skinned young man A crack he had thought nothing of Until his pole split in half striking Dozer

Closing his eyes Randidly supposed that he couldn’t always be the one fighting against impossible odds and still achieving results That young man would be worth watching in the future

But he would leave that to the others Donnyton had several capable and responsible people right now Randidly’s job was simple to eliminate the weaknesses they hadn’t discovered and grow strong To prepare for the unknown Although they didn’t know from what direction it would come the Nexus was not a peaceful place to be

A spear can only advance Randidly muttered to himself Then he looked at his status screen

He had gained 3 skill Lvls in Spear Mastery 1 in Phantom Thrust 2 in Eyes of the Spear Phantom 1 in Spear Phantom’s Footwork 4 in Fighting Proficiency 1 in Empower 3 in Calculated Blow 2 in Roundhouse Kick 1 in Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth 1 in the Spear Advances Ash Trails 1 in Spearing Roots 2 in Root Manipulation 2 in Pollen of the Rafflesia and Summon Pestilence 1 in Wall of Thorns 4 in Agony 1 in Incinerating Bolt and Circle of Flame 2 in Physical Fitness 1 in Grace 5 in Bacterial Regeneration and 1 in Superiority

Chuckling that he gained a point in Superiority after a lost battle Randidly used the PP he gained to finish off the Phantom Thrust II Path

Congratulations You have completed the Phantom Thrust II Path As you continue down familiar paths you may find that you blindly passed by treasures previously The world is wide and the path is long and familiar paths might still hold new surprises Effectiveness of each skill Lvl of Phantom Thrust has increased a very small amount Agility +3 Stamina +50 Stamina Regen +5

Randidly sighed No skill but increased the effect of Phantom Thrust would be very powerful Stamina especially after that long battle today seemed especially important as well

Once more Randidly looked at the paths open to him

Watcher 0/ Heretic V 0/ Oathbreaker 0/25 Initiate of Ash I 0/75 Empower 0/60 Path of Carnage I 0/ Agony I 0/100

It looked like one of the paths disappeared as well as Heretic increasing to V which Randidly would be hard pressed to forget about anytime soon In addition he now had access to a path related to the skill Agony although it was quite expensive

For now Randidly did not feel the need to address Heretic And based on what he had gathered it had something to do with him refusing to get a class through the system and growing in power anyway It was also implied that taking Heretic would solve the problem If it was some sort of Path that would end up giving him a class Randidly wanted no part of it

Ultimately Agony was too high and it was better to go for another skill that would improve a skill he used all the time Empower Randidly poured the rest of his PP into it but was annoyed to discover that he gained no extra bonuses all the way through 20

He felt an immediate sense of regret in his heart but put it out of his mind Best not to dwell on it IN addition this PP expenditure proved that there were only 5 options in rotation for his new Soul Skill which was enough for him The bonuses were

1 +15 Health +2 Vit

2 +3 Control +2 Free stat

3 +15 Stam +1 Agi/Str

4 +3 Focus +2 Free Stat

5 +15 Mana +1 all regeneration

All of the options were attractive in their own way and Randidly was fine with this Sighing he considered the details of his next step He wanted to experiment a little more with potions and hopefully Mrs Hamilton would help with the gathering of materials Randidly also wanted to push his Meditation and Bacterial Regeneration skills even higher

In terms of spells Spearing Roots Root Manipulation Summon Pestilence Circle of Flame and Incinerating Bolt would be where his attention was If he encountered a large group it might be worth it to level Pollen of the Rafflesia

Agony Randidly almost didn’t count as a spell but should also be in the rotation Luckily it used health and could be used only on himself which made it only slowly level but perversely helped him focus

But of course Randidly’s main focus would be on his spear combat skills If he could raise his basic proficiencies with the weapon The duel against Donnyton would have gone very differently

With a plan in mind Randidly settled down to rest

It had after all been quite a long day

Alana stood on top of the mountain looking down at Donnyton It was surprisingly good to see that the little village still stood there It somehow felt like home even though she had only lived there for a few weeks

What are those lights Clarissa who stood with her asked curiously

There did seem to be three weird giant torch things in the village one on the base of the dirt track they were heading down another deep in the NCC village and another to the North by the quarry Alana just shrugged she was far too tired for this nonsense

Raina’s humming magic had worked wonders for their speed even the younger children that Alana and Devan had begrudgingly allowed trotting on at an increased pace This had continued up the highway and onto the mountain road But right now as they crested the hill to see Donnyton all the exhaustion they had put off earlier fell on them like a weight Everyone looked with weary eyes at the town just a short mile away

Grunting Alana walked forward a small glow due to her skill coming from her skill It was still dim at night just enough to notice and catch the eye but in front of these tired people it was a small impetus they needed to stand once more trudging down towards the village The goal was in sight it was time to move

Clarissa looked behind her at the following crowd Behind them the trucks filled with supplies drove slowly over the bumpy road encouraging the most lazy Does Donnyton even have room for these people

Alana shrugged The village looks pretty peaceful right now so it shouldn’t be too hard to get a few Classers and some of Sam’s crafting people to wake up and build some quick houses right While we were making a cross country trek I bet they were enjoying cushy patrol jobs and sipping on coffee Holy fuck I want some coffee right now

Clarissa lifted her blouse and smelled it wrinkling her nose And all I want is a bath You’d think that Franksburg would have better infrastructure and sure they have working plumbing but no hot water What sort of sick joke is that

This is Donnyton The two women turned to find that Raina had come up to them for the first time since the night the horde broke through Franksburg’s defensive lines mask removed Her skin was warped and stiff not exactly making her ugly per se but giving her a very rough appearance

But there was wonder in her voice and a strange joy

Devan who had been walking some distance behind them came forward Yes this is Donnyton

Raina laughed and it was strangely beautiful no matter what she looked like her voice was still liquid honey and tinkling bells It looks likes a commune Everything is wood is any metal or plaster here at all What was here before

Scratching her head Clarissa answered slowly a cabin I think Nothing else

Raina gasped gesturing at the Classer compound the NCC village the farms the watch towers the walls that were slowly becoming easier to see as they approach Then all this

We built Alana said unable to keep the pride from her voice Which is why it’s nice to call it home

Chapter 108

The squads after a long afternoon and evening of being reamed out by Donnyton’s leaders for their flaws in terms of stat and skill choices were not in the mood to help build houses Some were injured others were dead tired and still others were slightly angry now at the whole situation

So when Alana came down with her trail of refugees the initial response was icy cold She looked around somewhat helpless Based on their moods it seemed like something had happened today that had depleted their usual enthusiasm and drive but the refugees were even worse off without the benefit of higher Vitality and Endurance stats they were about to collapse

If they couldn’t receive any help it would be a cold and uncomfortable night in Donnyton which is exactly the opposite of what Alana had promised

Then much to everyone’s surprise Dozer stood his left arm still in a sling although his shattered collarbone had been mostly healed His squad extremely well trained stood with him Very quickly Donny’s squad stood too as well as men from Paolo and Kayle’s squad although none of their squad leaders but Dozer was present

If not us then who can do this Dozer spoke softly but all the Classers hunched their shoulders

They had taken the burden from the Ghosthound The town was now their responsibility Slowly they all stood All 35 squads It took two hours but it was mostly a problem of organization When the Classers of Donnyton moved they moved

Although they weren’t pretty or particularly straight the new arrivals of Franksburg slept in newly made houses that night

As dawn rose over Donnyton Raina walked slowly up the path they had used to arrive at Donnyton once more ascending the location where they crested the mountain and could see Donnyton sprawled out below them

There she sat down on a rock and looked down at the town for a long time as it slowly came to life Then when she had a better feel for it and the light filtered down over the mountains more fully she began to draw

She took her time because honestly drawing was a skill that she had forgotten about a remnant of her time in high school But as she did her best to reproduce the lines of Donnyton below her drawing the long thin valley the road the Classer compound the spread of tightly packed farms the arena the defensive fortifications the quaint NCC village the new housing addition for the people from Franksburg and as she did so notifications flooded her demonstrating a rapid rise in her drawing skill She ignored them for now instead focusing on reproducing the image

After a half hour of drawing the sun rose higher than she liked changing the light and Raina paused examining the picture critically There were more details she wanted to fill in but it would have to wait until tomorrow As it was she decided to head back

Her trip down the winding road was much quicker than the trip up but halfway down the hill she paused a strange pounding noise coming from a nearby grove of trees

Abruptly Raina remembered that even if the area around Donnyton was surrounded by tight patrols keeping monsters out it wasn’t completely effective and the odd monster got through She supposed it would be poetic justice if she came all the way here only to be mauled by a wandering monster Not that she couldn’t defend herself but

Still the noise made her curious so she approached doing her best to stay quiet Making her way through the brush and trees the pounding grew increasingly loud Then as she pushed a branch out of the way she saw him

A man was sweating his chest heaving holding a large iron ball attached to a chain He had dark skin and bright eyes and his face was narrowed into a look of focus His shoulder muscles bulging he threw the iron ball where it richocheted off one tree and with a twist of the chain was made to crash into another obliterating the bark and cracking the wood underneath The trees around him were clearly showing signs of wear but still he practiced working tirelessly on his control

There was a strange charisma about the man Raina realized Almost without a conscious decision on her part Raina settled down and began to draw the captivating man

Randidly took a small break looking down at his spear in frustration He supposed that he had to consult this problem eventually but to run into this wall so soon after he resolved himself to train was quite inconvenient

He had spent the night working and he had received one skill lvl in Phantom Onslaught and one in Eyes of the Spear Phantom But as he continued he realized

that ultimately he only had one way of improvement And that was repetition He would repeat the movement under various degrees of strain The higher the strain the higher the gain from the repetition He could continue this endlessly slowly grinding his skills up Eventually he would grow stronger It would even be at a predictable rate

But Randidly suspected that this wouldn’t be enough to stay ahead of the threats that would come for Donnyton let alone be enough to stay ahead of the looming threat of Judgement

This flaw of Randidly’s came back to the same reason that the earlier stages were so simple because he viewed this system through the lense of being a game It made things predictable but it also severely limited Randidly in terms of the way he could learn and gather skills

Speaking of he made a mental note to check with Lyra whether she still had access to the skill trials Although he didn’t currently want to grind a bunch of skills that he might not use there would perhaps be some gems among the choices now that he had access to the Apprentice tier

Repetition was all well and good but Randidly knew of another view of the world one which he would very much like to move towards That would be of course the concept of martial art epiphanies that would rapidly increase his power The idea was that application of the skill could be improved rapidly just by a sudden shift in perspective

Randidly laughed aloud So what he was looking for in a way was an epiphany that would abruptly change the way he used the system Shaking his head ruefully Randidly prepared to switch over towards more active skill and spell focused grinding while he pondered how to change the way he thought about the system but he was interrupted by a voice

I think I can help

Randidly turned slowly to face Lyra who stood there solemnly Although the connection between them was gone and they hadn’t really talked much since he had returned to find her human form dead he had to chuckle she was currently dressed just like Nul always was with drab clothes and her face studiously blank looking exactly like their previously bland village spirit

Then she grinned at him and they both laughed

As the laughter died they examined each other both aware that something had changed And from the slightly sad gleam in Lyra’s eyes it seemed she had more of a clue over what it had been that they lost but she didn’t say anything and Randidly was more focused on other matters

You can help

Lyra frowned at him Why the hell do you sound so surprised I’m basically a shapeshifter now you know I’m very useful for

Abruptly Lyra blushed and looked at the ground Well nevermind that But you are wondering how to get stronger right I always thought you were an idiot for looking at the system the way you did but I couldn’t deny it got results But now look at you

Again Lyra stopped and she flushed again Less this time from embarrassment and more because it felt different She wasn’t drawn forward into mocking him like she had been before and the words just came out stale in her mouth Things really had changed

Slowly she spoke again Well anyway I can help But not for free

Randidly looked at Lyra really looked at her The determined look in her eyes conveyed her honesty Her golden blonde hair hung down around her ears curling with a natural grace Her face was skinny and sharp but he couldn’t deny he had always been attracted to her Perhaps the reason he had refused it before and focused on her age was due to an instinct he had that it was unnatural And now

And now everything felt strange But that didn’t change the facts Yes I would like your help

Smiling sweetly Lyra held out a small potion that seemed to be pitch black There are costs of course but I believe this will solve your mental problems According to my information a sip will block your access to notifications Think that will change your perspective

Randidly was very quiet for several seconds Blocking access to notifications would do nothing to change his improvement on the surface But at the same time

If his thinking started to change while he didn’t have notifications

The notifications acted as positive reinforcement to his grinding mindset They validated it Without them Randidly wouldn’t feel as though he was improving just by grinding He would need to do some sort of training with quantifiable metrics Then he would train pushing his limits not to get in more reps but to make those reps count Just like sprinters wouldn’t just run to get stronger they would do exercises to isolate the different muscles and then return to sprinting to fine tune the process

Overall it would mean that he would have to isolate the different parts of his fighting style finding training regimes that would work them Being without the notifications would hopefully focus him more on improving his results

But that would mean that I

Actually Lyra interrupted her normal smug smile returning and Randidly felt a glimmer of the old frustration with her You’ve had Daniel and Mrs Hamilton working on trying to find ways to improve the base skills for the squad members they have some ideas but need someone to test it out before they implement it across the board Scale up the difficulty and you will have a Doggy portion of exercise

After a long moment Randidly smiled in spite of himself Especially after his furious display the previous day he realized how valuable it was that this girl whatever they were to each other just treated him like a person rather than some protective deity Dealing with her it felt as though some of the tension that he now carried with him everywhere was finally dispersing

So I’m a glorified guinea pig Randidly said wryly Lyra rolled her eyes but nodded

If it blocked ALL notifications there was some danger that it would prevent him from realizing that another Judgement was coming but Randidly believed and hoped that it would take some time for that to happen He would also miss out on getting a jump on new path availabilities but as he wouldn’t be spending PP because it would be better not to check the skill growth he could wait until after

Randidly decided that if he was going to do it it was better to do it all the way no notifications for a week to start Hopefully that would give him time to lose some of his bad habits and give him some indications of the effectiveness of the strategy

After all even if it didn’t work he would have only wasted a week And in terms of possible notifications that he would miss honestly what is the worst that could happen

Nodding Randidly held out his hand Alright coach count me in

Coach Kukuku call me Mistress Lyra if you please By the end you will be begging for my mercy

Randidly just winced

Devan casually discussed some of the new training changes with his squad going over the parts that he believed were most important for their improvement and then indicating specific areas of focus for each squad member They studiously marked down what he was saying and then looked up as he stopped speaking

Devan frowned trying to follow a figure through the crowd his eyes tracking after very distinctive ears

What is it One of his squad members asked

Shaking his head Devan said I think we brought a furry back with us from Franksburg I swear I just saw a bunny walking around

Chapter 109

Razor Fleetfoot hopped to and fro feeling quite timid and overwhelmed The elders had tasked him one of their brightest young warriors with a very specific and possibly dangerous mission He had followed their instructions but to his surprise nothing of what he found was what he was told to expect

Everyone here just seemed to be rushing around in every which direction Seeing a friendly looking female Razor hopped over to her

Excuse me

The female looked him up and down sighed and then looked down at her clipboard Are you still looking for housing

Um no I

Well then I can’t help you The clipboard returned to her side and she walked away calling for any people from Franksburg in need of housing

Razor tried the same thing with 3 more people and every time he was given a conflicting answer He simply wanted to find someone in charge of this village

First he was told to find the scary looking woman with her hair up in a bun but this was rather useless advice because Razor didn’t rightly know what having hair up in a bun meant So that was disregarded

Second he was told to find a Classer who would point him in the right direction Razor assumed a Classer was someone with a class but he had no idea how to tell whether people had classes Did this village have a way to see that

He filed that information away for later

The third advice was pointing him towards a low squat building from which a lot of banging and screeching was emanating Razor’s sensitive ears were already twitching but he had a mission So he steadied his resolve and walked towards the strange building trying his best to ignore the horrible noise

As the light of dawn filtered through the window Sam smashed downwards with his hammer finishing the iron breastplate As he did so some of the light in the air seemed to stiffen and congeal then settle onto the armor For a second it glowed but then it faded leaving nothing but the dull sheen of metal

Annoyed at his new sleeping habits but somewhat mollified by the fact that his need for sleep was drastically decreased Sam examined the armor

Quality Iron Breastplate Lvl 25 End +3 Resistance +2 Health +30 Possesses the attribute Dawn Touched I

Dawn Touched I Wearer has regeneration increased by 10 per hour for Health and 1 per minute for Stamina

Sam’s face simply twitched stuck somewhere between a smile and a frown Sure the extra attribute was useful And if he could manage to mass produce this giving almost everyone an extra 3 End 2 Resist and 30 Health the strength of the average squad member would rise

It was simply made with common ingredients as well which meant that it was certainly possible to mass produce The problem was that the results from most of the other smiths would have only 2 End No Resist and 20 Health His class conferred on him some definite advantages so it was irksome that he therefore wanted to make every piece of armor

There simply wasn’t enough time Especially because he wanted to focus on Bone Shaping or his other new skill

Extremely carefully Sam removed a Needle covered in runes that they had purchased with quite a bit of SP and a book from their newly acquired library In it were the basics of engraving

Still moving with the utmost cautious Sam produced a small hammer and began to etch a rune onto the breastplate Not only did the shape of the rune have to match almost exactly but he had to insert mana into the needle letting it flow into the lines he was carving The amount wasn’t even but was based on how straight the line was The straight portions required very little mana to sustain

A small curve would require addition mana adding depth to the rune

A abrupt twist was like a deep well of mana as Sam sweated bullets pushing more and more mana into the line

The needle needed to remain near the breastplate constantly because it was sewing the mana into the correct shape and the connection could not be broken or it would all go to waste So Sam’s hammer hand intermittently needed to set down the hammer and raise a mana potion to his lips

Even the small breaks weakened the connection lowering the quality of the engraved rune but Sam simply had no choice he didn’t have a large enough mana pool to do an entire rune yet

Luckily he finished without a hitch and leaned back From the book Sam was able to purchase he had only learned 3 runes which translated roughly as Bear Fish and Dragonfly Sam’s current attempt was on a Bear rune which he now examined

Engraving of Bear 19% When struck this armor will have a small chance of resisting stunning and knockback effects

Sam spat in the corner his mood sour Especially after he clicked on the P After all he had never seen the rarity P It turned out it stood for poor

He had just taken a quality breastplate and practically scratched the word poor onto it

Adding to his foul mood there was a knock at the door

What Sam spat

One of his assistants poked his head through the door Someone is here to see you

Oh Mrs Northwind Sam said his expression brightening They had taken to having a morning walk every day or at least they had before this most recent trouble in the village So perhaps she wanted to start that tradition up again

Uh no The assistant seemed to squirm It’s uh A talking rabbit

Hahaha Sam laughed slapping his knee Who knew that this guy was such a jokester Normally he would hit him with a wooden 2 x 4 for such a flippant comment but violence in front of Regina was a bit Well let’s not keep her waiting then

No I think the rabbit is male The assistant interjected anxiously

Sam froze and then turned slowly to look at the man

Setting aside magic for now Mrs Hamilton said glancing at Lyra The training will be split into 4 areas Physical Fitness Attack Accuracy Footwork and Perception Randidly you already have skills for all 4 of these correct

Then we will begin immediately You have taken a sip of the potion

Randidly nodded again

The goal is to always be working two of the 4 areas at once We shall start with Physical Fitness and Footwork Please put on the jacket

As well as her notes Mrs Hamilton had brought over a wagon pulled by a very large and very well behaved wolverine Even as she was speaking to Randidly the wolverine was nosing towards Mrs Hamilton’s pockets looking for treats Exasperated she removed a banana from her spatial ring which the wolverine lumbered over to and began to eat with gusto

On the wagon was a sizable looking vest Randidly picked it up and his eyebrows rose This vest was likely around 200 pounds Although he probably wouldn’t notice the extra weight initially especially after carrying around a spear for so long that was just over 250 it would still begin to drag on him as the exercises dragged on for a while

Putting on the jacket Randidly turned back to Mrs Hamilton who was now looking at Lyra Although we eventually plan on setting up a mechanical apparatus the details are still being hammered out As it is Miss Silver will be handling the footwork portion of this activity

With a snap of her fingers 12 glowing blue birds came into being They began to fly in lazy circles criss crossing one another the group of them slowly drifting towards Randidly

I didn’t hold back you know Lyra added With how low your resistance is I wouldn’t recommend letting them touch you It would be so tragic to have to patch up that nice vest that everyone worked so hard to make for you now wouldn’t it

Depressed and thoroughly shaken Razor Fleetfoot stumbled away from the incredibly loud building run by the incredibly loud and angry hairless male Sighing Razor ignored the weird looks that everyone kept giving him and walked over to a strange tree with burning leaves next to a watchtower

Feeling profoundly tired he sat under it and leaned back against it Why were things so different than what the elders had anticipated It was all just so

So

Abruptly Razor felt like the world was swaying softly around him He shifted enjoying the leisurely movements a smile coming to his face

Perhaps he had just become too obsessed It might be good to take a small break here

All at once the stress of being yelled at faded away and Razor relaxed falling asleep against the tree that moved evenly slowly rocking him to sleep

Chapter 110

Lyra watched Randidly carefully as he went through the second exercise this one focused on weapon accuracy and eyesight It was an extremely large mobile with dozens of small wooden disks hanging from it The disks were numbered 1 through 60 Randidly’s task was simple hit them with his spear in order within a certain amount of time Complications emerged as Randidly had to hit them while they rotated slowly around him and also while the disks themselves spun sometimes hiding their numbers from him as they were only written on one side

But despite this his spear blurred his expression determined the soft click of wood evidencing his success Although most of it was due to the fact he appeared to have memorized where the first 30 or so were They would need to rearrange where they were hanging soon

With his eyes narrowed his mouth firmed into a line he seemed extremely capable and Lyra couldn’t help but feel a bit of that old longing for his approval an acknowledgement from him Still it was different now without the strange magic that the system had worked on them drawing them closer to one another

Unfortunately the exercise that Lyra had administered had gone rather poorly Mrs Hamilton had insisted that she keep a steady number of birds and keep them at a steady speed to use as a baseline Therefore although Randidly was forced to dodge back and forth and he was clearly out of breath by the end it wasn’t the embarrassing performance that Lyra had assumed would happen in her heart

The weight was obviously having an effect on him but it wasn’t enough his skills still let him move with an unnatural grace avoiding her swarming birds If she had been allowed to make them move just a little faster

But Lyra had learned very early on in her life that playing outside the rules didn’t pay off in the end It was much more satisfying to beat him at the game than cheat

How smart are you

Lyra blinked turning to look at Mrs Hamilton who was regarding her speculatively Excuse me

Oh I didn’t mean in a bad way Just I have some thoughts about the dodging exercise and I just need to know how much complexity you can handle

Frowning Lyra said as much as you can give I can use more birds

No that’s unnecessary Mrs Hamilton said shaking her head Just like he’s training consider this training for you too The problem isn’t the number of birds although the problem might solve itself with more birds Just like Randidly would still be strong just by increasing his stats to the point his skill levels don’t matter Maybe even by getting a class But do you know why he doesn’t do that

Inwardly Lyra was torn between feeling annoyed and feeling intrigued She had always known that Mrs Hamilton had expertly handled the NCC village and basically managed housing production potion making food and clothing distribution but that had always struck Lyra as slightly dull But now as Mrs Hamilton coldly looked her in the eye a small smile on her face Lyra abruptly remembered that Randidly had given this woman a very sinister sounding class

So she suppressed her annoyance and like any good actor allowed the emotion the audience wanted to see come to the surface Curious Lyra said Because our Randidly’s normal face hides a perfectionist He wants every advantage he can have

Yes in a way He takes the extremely long view Based on his actions he seems to think that an impending crisis is just beyond the horizon Pausing Mrs Hamilton turned and looked back towards the village She stood still for so long that Lyra thought she would have to speak but just as she was about to Mrs Hamilton turned back shaking her head

Well if something bad happens I’m sure someone else will notice Anyways the reason Randidly can dodge is because when you attack with the birds you are only moving 2 or 3 at the same time The rest just drift in a direction I suggest instead of attacking you work on making several smaller units and just move them around Namely 3 rings of 4 birds moving in a circle Go on try it

Lyra did making the 3 circles She furrowed her brow and was able to swiftly get the hang of it Honestly once you had them set it was relatively easy and she was able to tie the mana together in such a way that it didn’t take much attention

Good Now I’m going to switch up the disks and have Randidly try this exercise again from the beginning In the meantime try and master 3 things moving the rings with the birds staying in formation widening and tightening the rings and reversing the flow of the birds Once you can manage those three things we will see how easy it is for Randidly to dodge

Alana sat with her legs folded beneath her contemplating It was a simple thing but it was a question that had tortured her endlessly should she get her very rare sounding class or should she continue to train

It was now widespread knowledge that a certain amount of skill levels quite a bit over 400 without getting a class would lead to a strange Aether Starvation but the Ghosthound had made some cryptic comments to her the previous night that would seem to indicate that she didn’t have to worry about this issue and could continue to train for as long as she wished

Based on what she could tease out of his statements and other explanations of the problem it seemed that her connection to him provided her with the Aether she needed Of the other 3 who received the blessing Annie had continued to train without a class Sam had obtained his class immediately delighting in the new skills he received that would boost his crafting efficiency and Mrs Hamilton would only smile sweetly when asked refusing to answer

Those three’s answer was very demonstrative of their personalities but Alana was at a loss Was seeking the strength of the class now a mistake She knew that every 10 levels the Classers would receive an extremely powerful class skill Alana had heard rumors about how Decklan’s Killer’s Instincts Donny’s Righteous Bonds and Dozer’s Troll Constitution had made all the difference in the fight against the Ghosthound Although two of them were passive skills and Donny’s was defensive they still were profoundly apparent in battle and likely won the day of the squads of Donnyton

They assured her however that there was no rush It was just incredibly frustrating to be weaker than them and Alana knew it was only because they had access to levels

Alana looked at her stats

Alana Donal

Health(/R per hour) 192/192 (83)

Mana(/R per hour) 74/74 (21)

Stam(/R per min) 103/127 (26)

Vit 21

End 19

Agi 23

Perception 32

Reaction 35

Resistance 15

Willpower 13

Inteligence 22

Control 6

Skills Blessing of the Distant Southern Mountains Lvl 49 Ferocity Lvl 19 Running Lvl 23 Physical Fitness Lvl 20 Spear of the Broken Ridge Mastery Lvl 6 First Aid Lvl 12 Leap Lvl 29 Animal Skinning Lvl 19 Hunting Lvl 17 Sun Strike Lvl 9 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 20 Hawkeye Lvl 14 Block Lvl 19 Heavy Blow Lvl 32 Herculean Strength Lvl 14 Spear Deflect Lvl 12 Sweep Lvl 20 Mana Bolt Lvl 16 Battlecry Lvl 16 Dodge Lvl 14 Hot Blooded Lvl 8 Child of the Sun Lvl 5

She had focused on increasing her Physical Support stats which she believed was the best path to power Although her max speed wasn’t as high as most other people who chose to put points in Agility her Perception and Reaction still gave her enough of an edge that she could spar with Classers without making a fool of herself

Still she had to acknowledge that it was profoundly frustrating that the real reason that she was having such success against the Classers was due to the bonuses of her Soul Skill and the oppressive power of Sun Strike Whereas Thrust had been useful for keeping a careless opponent on their toes Sun Strike had enough raw damage output especially during the day to knock an opponent who wasn’t ready on their ass

Feeling slightly foolish Alana decided to consult with Daniel or Mrs Hamilton before she made her decision Perhaps there was something she wasn’t thinking of Truthfully in her heart she wanted to consult with the Ghosthound but

It would be extremely shameful after he gave her this gift to run back to him asking how to use it wouldn’t it

As the strange circling orbiting circles of birds floated towards him Randidly narrowed his eyes curious He of course had seen them practicing this but he wasn’t too impressed Did they think it would be more difficult if it was more predictable That didn’t make sense But Mrs Hamilton’s easy smile and Lyra’s determined expression made him nervous

The weight of the vest was starting to get to him as well After all these exercises he was tired His stamina came back but he burned through it just as quickly hastened by the exercise

It was exceedingly strange too to spend half the day training like this and to not receive a single skill level up notification He supposed that was proof that he was much too reliant on it but it was hard not to get discouraged and wonder whether it was worth it

The bobbing circles of birds approached snapping him back to attention Calmly Randidly activated Spear Phantom’s Footwork and moved quickly forward into the first circle But Randidly didn’t stop there and he rushed further forward moving around the second and towards the third

This was

Suddenly Randidly scrambled backwards He had meant to go inside the third one but it had abruptly shrunk becoming a rapidly spinning blur of bird As he twisted Randidly saw that the two behind him had expanded and the edges of their circles were approaching

Randidly activated Haste and pushed his Spear Phantom’s Footwork work to the limit avoiding the surprisingly difficult birds as they calmly circled The weaved together changing size and elevation sometimes coming at him high sometimes coming low

Panting Randidly found himself in the middle of the three circles surrounding him They were successively larger but even the closest one was some distance away Still now that he was here he didn’t feel great about his chances of escaping

His eyelid twitched The outer ring was rapidly shrinking while the other two maintained a constant velocity and size Randidly sprang into action rushing forward If he could get past the first ring before the third arrived

But as Randidly made to step through the rotation the first ring stopped And then reversed a bird arriving almost immediately at his chest Hissing Randidly activated Mana Strengthening Haste and Empower pushing his Spear Phantom’s Footwork to its limit He moved like a real Phantom ripping around the dangerous bird with pure speed emerging from the encirclement in a second

Gasping for breath Randidly went to check his stamina but stopped himself No notifications would be easier if he didn’t see anything So he could only grit his teeth and prepare as his body informed him he was running on close to empty

Razor Fleetfoot stretched and yawned feeling slightly sore in his neck but otherwise profoundly relaxed It was a good idea to take a nap he assured himself opening his eyes Now that he had shaken his jitters he could find someone in charge of this village and finish his mission

But the more that he thought about it the more droopy eared he became After all if it had been easy to do why hadn’t he been able to do it already And of these strange hairless creatures most just seemed to ignore him even though he looked so different from them

What sort of strange village is this Razor muttered aloud He was profoundly shocked when someone responded

That’s mighty presumchus talk for a giant bunny rabbit

Presumptuous Nathan A little girl with ash smeared on her cheeks said to the little boy next to her The boy folded his arms annoyed The little girl turned back to Razor and smiled So Mister Rabbit what are you

Err it’s Fleetfoot Razor Fleetfoot Razor said extending his paw towards the girl Then he felt profoundly silly for introducing himself to a little girl but he was just so pleased that someone finally acknowledged him

But to his further surprise the girl grasped his paw and shook it firmly I am Kiersty Priestess of Arbor Would you like to come see something pretty with us

Razor opened his mouth to say no but then hesitated After all what could it hurt At the very least these children probably were raised by someone who could point them in the right direction So he nodded and then followed the two children

Chapter 111

I think that is enough for today Mrs Hamilton said lightly smiling at them both Randidly collapsed on his knees sweat dripping off of his face which was very pleasing to Lyra But she herself had her hands tightly grasped behind her back suppressing the trembling in her fingers

She had overdrawn herself by a small amount keeping control of the circles of birds for long enough to exhaust Randidly But she would rather tremble for a while than let him win in this contest that wasn’t really a contest With an annoyed motion Randidly shucked off the weighted vest and collapsed on the ground his chest heaving

It wasn’t until Mrs Hamilton spoke again that Lyra realized she had been staring at his naked chest mesmerized for almost a minute

Why was it easier for her to control the birds than it was for you to dodge them

Randidly was silent for a long time before sitting up scratching his head his hair messy and sweaty It was in moments like these Lyra felt those old pangs in her heart struck by how beautiful his green eyes were

I would have said skill level but she was so bad at it to begin with I guess that using the circles helped But I’m not sure how

Lyra’s eyelid twitched Mrs Hamilton laughed

Yes it was that plan that gave her an advantage The reason why is simple part of what she was doing was routine Whereas your movement technique is the most sophisticated I have ever seen it’s like manually doing simple addition rather than multiplying You need to think more systematically about the moves you are making with your feet and then figure out how to use them efficiently

Randidly stayed silent looking at the ground

I will return tomorrow Lyra practice the other subroutines I taught you We will continue with the other two exercies tomorrow they require a bit more preparation But I believe with what I saw today it will be ready promptly tomorrow morning

With that she left leaving the two tired individuals to mulling over their own inadequacy Lyra opened her mouth ready to speak but to her surprise Randidly beat her to it

Thank you He said looking at her seriously his green eyes bright even in the dying light You are I mean you are really important to the village so I appreciate that you are taking the time to help

Lyra could have said that it was trying for her too but she remained silent Then slowly she said then let’s make a deal so it’s more fair I’ll help you every day and you you need to answer one question of mine completely honestly

Randidly chuckled as if he knew that she was deriving benefit from it too but just nodded Inwardly Lyra was just glad that he didn’t know she had inherited some of Kimmy’s powers and could maintain a projection a short distance away

So what’s your question

It’s just Lyra hesitated Randidly was so strange to her He didn’t fit into any of the easy to understand types of people she had dealt with her entire life The fans the superior folk that flatterers he was just profoundly contained within himself And that made her even now curious What do you want From all this

Leaning back against the ground Randidly looked at the sky He was silent so long that Lyra was beginning to believe that he had forgotten her question but he finally answered breaking the dusky silence

I don’t really know Since the system came I’ve wanted a lot of things First it was to survive then it was to find my friends I’ve survived and I’ve realized there are no clues about my friends They are probably dead All of my connections to my past life He winced just slightly here but then continued on Well they don’t mean much anymore now

Almost instinctually Lyra opened her Eyes of Wonder

Now now I’ve taken the time to help nurture this village At the end of the trials as I stood there holding that spell I knew in my heart I could wipe it all away burn everything clean Lyra kept her gaze locked on him agreeing that he had that power if he was willing to sacrifice everything And I didn’t want that

Here he paused pushing back his drying hair Then he turned to look at her So I guess I want this to continue I want this town to grow Because in a way it was a seed that I planted And to protect it

His eyes narrowed I’ll push myself into the ground

He stood slowly and slipped back on the vest Then he began to move slowly using his strange movement technique in small bursts looking at his feet She retreated reforming her body some distance away and watched him with her Eyes of Wonder

That brilliant emerald aura surged around him constantly She could also see how he was constantly using his skill to control nearby roots working mana the entire time during the exercises His steps became increasingly slow then fast then back to slow and she could make out the small frown on his face As she watched in the middle of his chest it was like a door opened and thin tendrils of violet energy slid outwards running through him

Lyra leaned back on her heels So he was using it to accelerate his growth Not consciously yet but if he could learn how Briefly she considered telling him about it and doing her best to teach him But her previous attempts demonstrates pretty clearly that wasn’t her role Her skill set did not include teaching a person like him

Perhaps she consoled herself it was just that he wasn’t teachable in that way He was stubborn almost obsessive and weirdly implacable There was a growing vicious streak in him All one could do was set obstacles in his way and watch him struggle to overcome them learning the hard way

Maybe that was what she liked about him About how he insisted on doing everything the most difficult way Even when there were simpler answers available

Lyra turned her attention inwards and brought out the complicated diagrams that Mrs Hamilton had prepared for her earlier To be a good obstacle herself it was time to start homework

Razor gaped looking at the strange scene in front of him

A tall slender tree stood in the center of a clear surrounding by a small path its leaves burning Around it dozens of people mostly children but also quite a few adults were doing a weird dance After viewing the scene for several seconds Razor had to admit that it appeared that the tree itself was dancing and everyone was imitating it

What He said aloud almost instinctually and the little girl that led him here released a tinkling laugh

This is Arbor Come on I’ll introduce you

To Razor’s shock he was led up to the tree He was asked to introduce himself The tree seemed to listen then seriously extended its branch towards him as if to shake his hand Nonplussed Razor obliged finding the bark of the tree to be oddly warm and comforting Although he did earn a hand of greasy ash for his troubles

Afterward the dancing continued for a while then people began to leave as if a ritual of some sort was over Razor was somewhat mystified but this at least was something the elders had prepared him for Some foreign cultures had extremely strange or primitive religious beliefs and the elders had urged him to exercise the utmost respect should he encounter any

Although Razor didn’t believe that the elders thought he would have to spend QUITE so much time over here experiencing the culture before he would find someone in charge He tried to approach a few people during the tree dance thing but most had just shushed him and continued dancing Helpless he remained with the two children Only when everyone departed and it was only the 3 of them before the wiggling tree did the girl again turn to him with such poise and grace that Razor was slightly shocked Her eyes burned brightly lit by the flaming leaves above her Perhaps these people appeared younger than they actually were

Thank you for your patience What is it you came here for If it’s within my power I will give it to you

Razor almost blushed Was his impatience so obvious It was slightly disturbing that this little girl saw right through him I simply wish to talk to the elders of this village To discuss our future relationship If possible I was supposed to bring a group back to our village for a show of goodwill

The girl considered this for a moment then nodded seriously I believe I can help But it must wait until tomorrow

Uh Oh Razor asked somewhat disappointed

It’s bedtime soon The boy added Then he stuck his hand out to Razor I’m Nathan This is Kiersty We really want to help you Mr Bunny Rabbit but our mom will be angry if we aren’t in bed soon

Oh that’s Okay I’ll just

You are probably tired too right The girl Kiersty said brightly her eyes glittering Why not come and stay with us

Razor wasn’t sure how he wanted to answer either that he had already napped away most of the day or that wasn’t it strange to sleep with strange children but he was given no chance The two grabbed his arms and began dragging him forward

Before 15 minutes had passed he had been whisked into a house into a dark room and wrapped in a large blanket sleeping on the floor between Nathan and Kiersty’s beds Honestly it was surprisingly warm and comfortable Razor wasn’t sure where these creatures found the material for their blankets but he fervently made a mental note to figure it out

Then after he was starting to doze in spite of his already sleep filled day the door opened slightly

Nathan Kiersty Both here

Yes Mom They chorused and the door started to close but then Kiersty spoke again

Mom is it okay for Mr Bunny Rabbit to sleep over He’s from another world and has no place to stay

The door paused Mr Bunny Rabbit eh Won’t his mother worry

I think he was sent here on purpose Kiersty said

He’s an ambassador Nathan added

Oh Indeed The woman outside the door now spoke with a very amused tone Well then make sure he gets his sleep too Goodnight Mr Bunny Rabbit

Razor opened his mouth to answer but felt a hand clamp over it He turned to find Kiersty giving him a disapproving frown The door closed all the way and the sound of departing footsteps were audible Only after they had traveled a fair distance away did Kiersty speak

She doesn’t know you are actually here She thinks you are imaginary Why were you going to speak up Don’t you have mommies where you come from

Razor Fleetfoot could only shrug feeling embarrassed under Kiersty’s withering stare

What sort of place was this village

Chapter 112

All night Randidly tirelessly practiced the movements of Footwork of the Spear Phantom working on what Mrs Hamilton recommended First he just let the moves flow moving back and forth across the ground however he wanted to letting the steps spiral endlessly forward

It really was an incredibly profound way of moving that was focused on small delicate steps that seemed incredibly light but contained a large amount of power An opponent who witnessed the moves would be endlessly surprised by the large steps that did nothing and the small steps that could instantly cross several meters

Randidly realized that it wasn’t exactly an efficient way of moving in terms of distance His sprinting speed both real and with just a sideways leap was much higher than what he could manage with Footwork of the Spear Phantom Instead the footwork enabled him to end up in a range of very different if close to each other places with the same motions depending on how he chose to apply the delicate power in the steps

So with a direction in mind Randidly plotted out the 10 steps that made up the footwork first without the power then second with the power slightly awed by the 1 meter difference in where he ended up

1 meter might be a rather small distance compared to mountains Even compared to spears it was slightly lacking But in terms of the distance it takes to kill an opponent it was more than enough

Pausing Randidly considered how to move forward Previously he had always done the motions with the power burning quickly through his stamina pool With his continued denial of using the system screens Randidly wasn’t sure how much stamina he was burning through with his moves but based on the feeling in his chest it was decidedly smaller Only a thin warm thread of stamina was required to do the steps without the energy

Such a small amount that he could practice like this almost endlessly But this wasn’t the goal It was to intermix his steps sometimes using the delicate power other times not confusing an opponent

A spear phantom did not value distance speed it valued near infinite mobility in close combat

That then would be Randidly’s goal

Systematically just like Mrs Hamilton recommended he practiced giving himself a deep familiarity with the 10 moves Although he had practiced them mindlessly before driven on by Shal’s threat of violence he hadn’t really thought about them After he left the dungeon he had practiced them in the order taught to him by Shal never really experimenting But now

Now they were toys they were puzzle pieces they formed a base

They were steps leading him up towards a higher level And in his heart Randidly still wondered what he was doing what he was looking forward to But it was fun This path was his own and he would walk it to the end

More than anything he craved the knowledge of what was waiting at the end of his path And he would work himself into the ground in order to be strong enough to triumph over whatever he found there

Almost against her will as if she was being driven forward by someone else Raina woke up once more at the crack of dawn and walked up the mountain path returning to the outlook over Donnyton It really was a beautiful view and a strategic one

She suspected in the future that they would establish a base of sorts up here or at least a watch tower It gave a great view of the different important areas of the town and also of the different avenues that monsters could attack from The only blind spot was to the north near the quarry due to the curve of the mountain but it was still enough of a view to warn of something large heading their way

Taking advantage of the rising light she pulled out her notebook and took up where she left off yesterday adding detail and contour to the valley It wasn’t big yet but Raina had a hunch that this town would experience explosive growth soon This was still the area from which the only visible pillars of light have emerged and now Franksburg’s pillar lay beyond them acting as a beacon for those too fearful of the changes the system brought to head this way the first time

Now though now that they understood that the system appeared to be here to stay

Raina slapped her cheeks banishing these thoughts Then she began to hum as she drew losing herself in the soft slow lines of the valley she now stayed Perhaps someday it would even be the valley she called home

Tykes stilled a strange noise reaching his ears But as soon as he heard it the wind blew covering up any hint of the noise But Tykes was a patient man He had learned to wait quietly all his life So he waited standing in the forest clearing holding his iron ball high looking like a pitcher standing at a baseball mound

The wind continued to blow Tykes started to sweat But his willpower was firm and he refused to give into weakness He had learned a valuable lesson two days ago standing before the Ghosthound witnessing the almost unfathomable depths of strength that a human a man who had been just as normal as him a month ago could reach It was sobering

And it set Tykes’ world on fire If he could grasp that strength

The wind continued unabated the brush and trees rustling incessantly Tykes’ arm was beginning to tremble from the strain of holding the cast iron ball aloft He really needed to talk to someone about getting a lighter model made

But in his heart Tykes knew he wouldn’t because that same weight that made it necessary for him to constantly train to hold it raising his Herculean Strength skill also meant that it would hit the opponent that much harder

Unable to keep up with the strain Tykes let go of the ball letting it fall to the ground with a crash The forest floor would have one more crater Tykes thought gloomily but then he stilled Because the forest had stilled around him too the pesky wind finally gone And without the incessant noise he could hear it just barely A soft humming

A scrap of a melody Still it was more than enough to fill Tykes with a breathtaking longing It reminded him of an old home the warm smile of his mother the hot oatmeal he ate everyday as a child It reminded him of free and easy laughter

Leaving the metal ball in its new hole in the ground Tykes walked deeper into the forest creeping through the trees treading his way slowly up the slope And as he did so the humming became louder In a way the volume didn’t change but it seemed as if the tune itself pervaded the entire forest every leaf and branch and bush buzzing with the music It pulled him forward almost stumbling up the hill towards the source

As he neared it it seemed as though it became more quiet as if the forest stopped carrying the tune across the distance too him The voice was a little more rough but the pitch was still impeccable Tykes stumbled through a large thorn bush cursing quietly to himself and then froze as he realized the noise had stopped

Looking up he saw briefly trees the rising sun sloping ground Donnyton lying below His eyes took in briefly a notebook and a pencil but then he simply blinked and looked at the humming woman who looked at him with a shocked expression

She was

Beautiful Tykes muttered

As Randidly slowly used repetition to memorize the distances each of the 20 different steps covered 10 powered and 10 unpowered he did not halt his training in spells For the first several hours he had been working on Root Manipulation and Summon Pestilence He chose these two for the specific reason that they required profound control to utilize correctly

So while he stepped he controlled a tightly packed stream of flies zooming to and fro sliding between an obstacle course he made on the spot with roots It was certainly challenging both because of his divided attention but also because Randidly was slowly coming to understand more about the skills

There were some things keeping the insects he summoned or the roots under control or in a specific shape that were hard But if he pushed and focused he was able to keep them on track or at least extremely close to what he wanted

There were other things like keeping the insects in a ball or lifting a boulder with the roots that were impossible either because of the skill level or his current stats Randidly wasn’t sure But it did mean that there were a lot of places that the utilization of his skill was sloppy

If he could succeed on all the hard tasks pushing himself to the limits of his potential he didn’t doubt that his skill level would rise giving him even more potential to draw out It was an endless cycle of intense training for small gains a path of tiny steps But for some reason Randidly couldn’t help but grin

This was exactly what he wanted If there was any benefit of the system it was that it was infinitely easier to see your own improvement Of course by the same token it was possible to see the vast gap between yourself and someone else Which could be discouraging but it could also be motivating

Idly Randidly wondered what the villagers had thought watching him fight against their squads But he supposed it was pointless to wonder From now on he planned on staying away from the limelight whenever possible Perhaps given a few months of intensive training on Randidly’s part the village would gradually forget about him leaving him in peace

He supposed he would always consider this his base When other Newbie Villages formed in the zone he would probably go just to check for signs of Sydney and Ace and also to slowly connect their villages into some sort of trade organization

But until then

Randidly closed his eyes and concentrated He was starting to get a finer sense of mana and stamina as well It was strange how he could feel their relatively minor influences over the strange pulse of Aether in his chest which had become a constant companion but he could And he could feel how he could burn more of the resource to have an extra effect when he cast his spells It was a small thing extremely small But this was after all an endless path of small steps

Eyes springing open Randidly pressed burning as much mana as possible a Ring of Flame exploding outwards around him

The heat scorched the nearby ground leaving charred parts of the ground Grinning Randidly flexed his fingers and began moving back through the 20 steps of the Footwork of the Spear Phantom Intermittently he would release Rings of Flame blowing damage outward Dawn was rising above him but Randidly did not pause he did not tire Because he craved to see the end of this path he was on

So he would tirelessly continue forward

Alana looked down surprised to find the small strange girl that was always hanging around Arbor As always her cheeks were smeared with ash Her brother as he always did was hanging around with a worried look on his face

What was strange was that in her hands the girl appeared to be holding a glowing seed of fire And there was an anthropomorphic rabbit standing next to her looking at Alana nervously

Alana coughed into her hand so as not to stare Er yes

The girl nodded seriously We’ve been given an important mission by the Ghosthound I need to escort this Ambassador and this gift back to their village Will you call one of the squads over to guard me

Frowning Alana looked at the Ambassador Rabbit He smiled weakly back at her Alana’s eyes returned to the three individuals in front of her an Ambassador Where is he from

The Ghosthound’s name gave her some pause and this strange girl certainly had some connection to him due to her relationship with his plant but Alana was still slightly suspicious Why exactly did this person look like a rabbit

The girl pointed towards the Classer compound It’s right this way follow me

Bemused Alana followed the determined girl As they walked through Donnyton Alana saw Devan and his squad and flashed him a hand signal Due to their long hours together during their trip to Franksburg they had hashed out some basic silent communication Not that it ended up being necessary because they were so much stronger than the people there But it was a good way to pass the time

Instantly Devan said a quiet word and his squad moved forward to surround Alana

When he arrived at her side he asked What is it

Alana ruefully gestured to the girl Apparently we are on a diplomatic mission a la the Ghosthound Guard the weird rabbit man bring a gift to his village something like that

Much to her annoyance as soon as Devan heard the Ghosthound’s name his face eased and he nodded tranquilly His whole squad followed suit and they spread out further surrounding the two children and rabbit in a protective formation Abruptly she regretted bringing up the Ghosthound After all she had no evidence that this was actually a mission from him If they ended up going on some wild goose chase

Embarrassed Alana wasn’t sure whether to speak up While she was struggling inwardly they marched into the Classer compound and headed towards the center Multiple squads were training but they parted quickly after seeing the group of them After all Devan and Alana both had quite a bit of influence and the girl’s face was known around Donnyton as being related to the magical tree

But the second looks they received were because of the floppy eared man glancing around nervously Still although it was an unusual sight after exposure to the system people weren’t moved enough by the rabbit man to investigate further and they swiftly refocused on their training

They swiftly arrived at the zone where the entrance to the kept dungeons were where a line of people waited but the girl lead them past that As she walked forward she approached a strange circle of stone on the ground that Alana had never seen before The girl turned around and smiled

It’s right through here The air shimmered behind her

Then she turned forward and took another step The air rippled like water and the girl disappeared The Rabbit followed her a second later After a small glance between themselves the two leading members of Devan’s team followed stepping forward and disappearing

Uh Alana began but after a few seconds one of those two reappeared gave the all clear signal and then stepped back into nothingness Devan and his squad quickly marched into the strange void disappearing before her

Uh She looked around No one appeared to have noticed their group had vanished Donnyton was a busy place with squads constantly coming and going training and disappearing into dungeons So their actions would probably not attract much notice

Should she report this to someone But if the Ghosthound really did send them to do this perhaps everyone already knew

Feeling something was out of place but unsure of what to do Alana stepped forward and was teleported to another world

Chapter 113

Raina hastily put her mask back on blushing furiously She was secretly quite pleased but underneath that was a thick layer of shame Her face as it was now Without this mask

Without saying anything to the man Raina gathered her stuff and hurried down the hill

At least tell me your name beautiful

Whereas she was previously slightly overwhelmed by a strange fluttering in her heart by the strange man now a hard wedge of annoyance drove down and she straightened her back and strode away

You aren’t getting anything with that entitled attitude that was for sure ’ Raina thought to herself

Then she spoke aloud forcing every ounce of her willpower into her words Stay away from me

Her voice was low but the air rang with the imperative in her words Satisfied she returned to the village Perhaps she really should get a class at this rate She had gotten lucky with monsters by which she meant that she hadn’t encountered any But this man arriving reminded her that although this place was safer it was not safe

Lower after she walked almost halfway down the hill almost against her will she stopped and turned and looked up expecting

Well she wasn’t sure what to expect But she saw a now distant figure standing stock still looking down towards her His entire body posture radiated sad puppy dog For a moment Raina regretted what she had done but then she buried that sentiment

After all ’ She reasoned If he really wanted to talk to me what’s the harm in making him work a little for it Like I’ve been working to find out where Randidly is ’

With her thoughts turning decidedly frustrated Raina continued back to Donnyton her eyes on her feet

Alana looked around slightly alarmed There was an odd tension in the air and Devan’s eyes were narrowed They were in a strange little clearing next to a small stream The vegetation around them the grass bushes and tree leaves were various shades of blue while the trunks of the tree looked like obsidian

But what was most strange was that surrounding them were around 3 dozen mother fucking human turtle people aiming crossbows at the new arrivals Everyone was very still Alana’s hand twitched as she forcefully repressed an urge to draw her spear This was extremely strange but there was at least another village So perhaps this was a diplomatic mission after all and Kiersty hadn’t been blowing smoke out of her ass

But her hope dwindled as one of the turtle people caught sight of the twitch and a crossbow pivoted slowly to aim at her

Then the rabbit man stepped forward Razor Fleetfoot reporting I have brought back the representatives of our sister village which calls itself Donnyton

Silence was the only response from the crossbow sporting group of turtles Razor’s smile faltered Devan stood quite still seemingly completely at ease but Alana knew from experience with him that he could spring into motion at the drop of the hat activating Aegis to boost the group’s defensive arrangements

Alana began to run through some mental math Assuming they weren’t boosted by access to the system but were simply crossbows Alana was rather confident that she would be able to withstand the volley of arrows Their armor new improved versions provided by the forges of Donnyton would be more than enough to weather this storm

But if they were system improved weapons

Further lowering her spirits one of the turtles the one that appeared to be a leader stepped forward his green leathery hands behind his back Initiate of the 1st Circle Razor Fleetfoot It appears that you have successfully returned from your scouting mission to the sister village Unfortunately

He paused then his balding green head bobbing a little Or rather fortunately when you didn’t return yesterday your grandmother was inconsolable She has insisted on the draft We cannot continue without more individuals with a class If you were to return perhaps her resolve would waiver

Razor just blinked Alana felt ice cold on the inside But But I’m here I came back

The turtle man nodded serenely with quite grievous injuries He snapped his fingers

Six of the crossbows snapped bolts flying forward to lodge themselves in the chest of a shocked Razor He tried to open his mouth to say something but only blood came out dripping and pooling on the ground in front of him After a few seconds of struggle he keeled over sideways silent the entire time toppling in front of a serious eyed Kiersty

Devan took a step forward and several loaded crossbow swiveled to him

This is an internal matter The turtle announced Once he has died you may return to your village or if you insist you may come to ours for discussions Until then do not move

Frowning Devan remained still but someone else moved Kiersty bent down her mouth scrunched up in a tight line Alana felt a thin thread of pity for the child Although the world was now like this it was not an easy thing to get your first taste of death The girl’s head was lowered and Alana felt a pang as she realized she was probably crying

But when Kiersty’s head snapped up there were no tears in those eyes only fire

Don’t hurt Mr Bunny Rabbit She whispered furiously her small fists clenched at her sides Her right fist started to glow a fiery energy growing slowly larger from her palm from whatever she had clutched there It rose and rose becoming almost blindingly bright First one and then a rain of arrows came shooting towards Kiersty and Devan and his squad lurched forward to block them They managed to get in front of most of the arrows but more came

But as those arrows neared her they burnt up to nothing dissolving silently to ash the strange flames around her body producing no heat but were seemingly utterly impenetrable The air seemed to thrum with her fury spreading out in waves

Instead of lashing out with her anger though Kiersty kneeled next to Razor and delicately began to remove the arrows from his chest and torso As she did so small flames licked at his chest closing the wounds Simultaneously the light around her dimmed until when she removed the last arrow from his chest and the light when completely out

Kiersty swayed then collapsed onto Razor’s chest

Razor sat up blinking and then looked uncomprehendingly down at Kiersty Is it bed time again

Devan’s squad slowly drew their weapons and turned to the crossbowmen whose faces were frozen into masks of fear But they were not looking at Devan’s squad or Alana’s new spear which glimmered golden in red

They were looking at a female rabbit person standing with her hands on her hips in between the turtle people and the group of Donnyton Her fur was a soft brown like the bark of a young tree

What The rabbit woman said very slowly delicately hefting a hunk of iron that was about the size of the club that Dozer used with a single hand happened here

Oh sis Razor said cheerily from his spot on the ground He rubbed some of the blood off from around his mouth and continued I brought the delegation from our sister village back And then oh

Randidly sat on the ground waiting for his mana and stamina to regenerate He had considered using this time to work on another Soul Seed but he still hesitated for a few reasons First without notifications it would be hard to keep track of and control the outcome of the Soul Seed He also wouldn’t be aware of how close to being finished it was

In addition Randidly wanted to grind a lot of skills to raise his general battle prowess quickly Well practice a lot of skills The sooner that he got away from the grinding mentality the better So he didn’t want to carefully limit the exposure the seed would have As far as he could tell they had a spiritual connection to him and it wasn’t possible to hide the seed while he was using skills he didn’t want to be a part of it

The third reason was he still had so many questions about Aether When he had asked Lyra yesterday she had simply smiled and Randidly was able to intuit it just wasn’t something she was able to answer He would have to figure it out himself

So as Randidly meditated he turned his perception inward examining the energies that he could distantly feel It was like trying to parse apart threads of spider silk with calloused hands He could see them when they caught the light but anytime he tried to actually put his hands on them they all but disappeared under his fingers It was incredibly frustrating

But that didn’t mean that the time he had spent training with Lyra in mana control had been in vain He had learned how to approach delicately settling his perception down so even though he was unsure if he really had a strand of that energy he had confidence it was there

Aether was special too It was hot and cold to a dangerous degree It was volcano and glacier sliding through his veins pulsing with the beat of his heart

Randidly’s eyelids twitched but they did not open On closer inspection of his inside he was almost sure that the energy within him had spread very slowly He had felt it pulsing while he trained yesterday but wasn’t sure what to make of it If then Aether really was the work of the system on his body if stats and skills all came from Aether Then more Aether settling in his body meant he had gotten stronger

But that also didn’t feel right Randidly did his best to follow those thin strands of spider silk energy back to his core Because the Aether flowed like water from a spring he held inside of himself

As he struggled and followed it back Randidly could feel fiery runes flare up around his throat and immediately cool to deathly cold His heart beat a little faster sure that this was a sign he was heading in the right direction but that small bit of excitement threw off his concentration and it all fell to pieces

Sighing Randidly shook his head He did not need to rush it even this much was an improvement Once he found the source of Aether inside of himself if he could affect it if it could vastly increase the rate at which he gained strength

Smiling Randidly stood and walked towards Mrs Hamilton who was beckoning him over towards a very strange looking contraption

Chapter 114

There are obviously harder versions of the previous exercises Mrs Hamilton began But today we are going to get the final two that we have currently designed a good test and then start to address areas that I believe can be improved The first exercise will be one focusing on Weapon Accuracy and Fitness

Randidly glanced around Will Lyra not be joining us

Mrs Hamilton smiled sweetly She has her own exercises and training although she is a village spirit she didn’t lose access to her stats and skills As such and considering how weak all of the survivors we found from Turtletown have been it seems prudent that she improve as much as possible so she can survive

Snorting quietly Randidly followed Mrs Hamilton to two strange new additions to the landscape The first reminded Randidly quite a lot of the mobile they used to train vision and weapon accuracy but this one had rings of varying sizes hanging down from it rather than wooden disks The other training ground was a strange series of wooden pillars their heights varying They appeared to be segmented and small pieces of wood stuck out of the sides of them

It was funny to Randidly that Mrs Hamilton had considered Lyra to need more help surviving Out of everyone Randidly had encountered only when he looked at Lyra’s impish face did he feel that she was the only one who wasn’t constantly in danger

Even when he first saw her in that strange moment they first met there was something eminently practical about her A lot of people paid too much attention to what she said and never watched what she did or how she did it She had taught herself how to control mana She had grinded up alone until she could control birds of mana that could rip through the hardened flesh of monsters like it was paper She had learned to teleport she had enough knowledge to attempt to teach others what she did although it hadn’t gone very well in Randidly’s case

And more than anything else Lyra had tracked down Kim Lath and struck when it was weakest usurping the spot as Village Spirit from both it and Nul Randidly was about as powerful as he could be but these were not feats that he could have accomplished They were on very different paths hers esoteric and strange and his

He smiled sardonically Well he was discovering his own path every day But he couldn’t help but wish he possessed a bit of her strange genius so he could master the use of Aether

We will start with Fitness and Weapon accuracy To start simply stand in the center and thrust your spear through the hanging hoops in order Use this spear She pointed to a ugly black stick of metal on the ground that Randidly knew Shal would barely consider worth of such a designation before continuing Once forward once backwards then switch arms Speed doesn’t matter as long as it is consistent This is meant to be a marathon You must finish without any breaks or you need to start again Start whenever you are comfortable

We aren’t waiting for Mrs Hamilton or Sam Regina asked frowning

Only Regina Daniel Donny Glendel and Clarissa sat around Decklan and Dozer were out working and Ptolemy had allowed Clarissa to take over his spot on the council with relief The immigrants from Franksburg didn’t yet have a representative although Regina was of the opinion that they would swiftly integrate into the already established groups and be represented in that way

Which was why Mrs Hamilton’s absence was a problem Without her the NCCs didn’t have representation If they protested

But then Regina shook her head ruefully No need to get ahead of herself It would just be better for Mrs Hamilton to appoint a 2nd in command who could handle stuff in her absences

Glendel blinked and then spoke Mrs Hamilton is still off with the Ghosthound and Lyra helping get the training started Sam is currently testing or torturing the production focused individuals from Franksburg it’s hard to tell

Regina waved her hand surrendering and Daniel straightened his papers and spoke As per the recommendations of the council to this point SP has primarily been used to upgrade our shops and build defensive structures We have also expanded Donnyton’s influence sphere’ which prevents monsters from spawning inside of the city perimeter In addition Mrs Hamilton’s suggestion of the increased energy density zones we could use was a good one it was used on the farming areas and crop yields have increased by 20% as well as some of the crops showing signs of interesting mutations Now that all of these goals have been accomplished we have less of a pressing short term need and still a sizable pool of SP

Clarissa yawned Regina’s eye twitched The former librarian was really playing up her lazy witch’ persona Not that it was harmful but still if she could have a little bit more respect

Seeing that no one interrupted Daniel puffed up his chest and finally got to the point Since that is the case I believe this is a good opportunity to invest in two new buildings The Adventurer’s Guild and the Communications Array

Oh Didn’t you really want to save up for the Cathedral Donny asked curiously

Daniel hesitated and then nodded Yes I did But the Cathedral’s cost keeps increasing It is currently at around 15k SP It seems to be tied to the number of Classers a village has Not only is that a lot of SP its more than we’ve ever had at one time I think it’s better to buy these two other buildings right now

Even though we don’t know what they do Regina said coolly

Daniel stiffened but nodded

Regina knew that Glendel would vote with her and Clarissa supported the building of both of these buildings So it all came down to what Donny wanted

Once more Regina regretted the process by which the council was run They needed a more sophisticated system Everyone else at the table appeared to know this too so everyone remained silent while Donny looked at his hands On his chest a fresh new breastplate sparkled made by Sam with a strange rune carved into it Sam had thrown it away claiming it was Trash and scrap but it was better than anything else they had so Donny had claimed it

It was honestly quite intimidating too There was a strange ferocity about the rune on the breastplate and the longer you stared at it the more it seemed to vibrate with ferocity Shaking her head Regina looked away

Donny coughed lightly For now let’s just get one of the buildings I think we should raise the difficulty of both of our kept dungeons The weaker to 8 the stronger to Lvl 23 I also want a third dungeon which we can keep at 5 so the NCCs can train somewhere against real monsters especially if the city limits keep expanding Daniel which should we get

After a brief hesitation where he considered pointing out that it was impossible for NCCs to go into the dungeon but it wasn’t a good idea to attract annoyance at this juncture Daniel said Adventurer’s Guild

Clarissa nodded her eyes bright and excited Sighing Regina gestured helplessly Then she went to stand the meeting basically over After all her corps of doctors and nurses needed to be honed into more physically fit individuals A lot of the medicine they would do now was healing and that required that they be near the injured person able to go to the front line Which is why she begrudgingly accepted Mrs Hamilton’s absence If she could figure out efficient ways to train

But to her surprise Glendel raised his voice Wait before you go there’s one more thing

The group turned and looked at him Shrugging he said I know not when it happened but sometime last night Kraig left the medical area He’s disappeared from Donnyton

Randidly dragged himself forward towards the barrel of water that Mrs Hamilton had prepared dipping his head entirely into it and sucking it down like a vacuum He probably had chugged 10% of it before he was satisfied and straightened wiping his mouth

Mrs Hamilton was a devil he thought to himself sparing her a sharp glance and only receiving a sunny smile in return

The spear she had provided for the first exercise had been just as heavy as that godforsaken vest and swiftly caused his arms to burn But he knew that she really would demand he do it again if he paused so he finished her exercise his chest heaving She had only shook her head and said words that made a vein in his forehead throb

Aren’t you a little too weak And the whole point was to stab the spear through the hoop without touching it working on your control well I suppose it’s fine for your first try

So they moved onto the next exercise which required Randidly to move around between those strange spinny wooden pillars hitting the pegs in a certain order at a certain angle

See the pegs were covered with 6 letters spaced equally apart on the peg At most points Randidly was surrounded by 3 or 4 pillars each with 9 pegs 3 for each segment pointing out in different directions So usually 3 pegs per pillar were within reach Which meant he had access to 54 letters that could be touched at any one point

The whole idea was that Mrs Hamilton would say a word and Randidly would spell it out by hitting the letters in the right order Unfortunately there was a lot of letter overlap and uncommon letters were only located on one or two of the pegs in the 20 or so pillars and the 180 or so pegs

It was allowed to press a letter and take a single step moving so he would be close enough to the letter he needed This sometimes pushed his footwork to the limits making him use his imagination to move to where he needed to be with a single step

Another problem was that everything was spinning constantly moved by the wind from his steps or from the touches of his hand So not only did he have to look around and try to memorize where the letters were but he had to keep track of them all while they moved

This was still at the limit of possible Then Mrs Hamilton started giving him words that would have him touch the first 3 letters then freeze because it was impossible to make it across the pillar group to the W on the other side

This is impossible Randidly said flatly

Mrs Hamilton chuckled You just don’t think Why did you pick that first E just because it was in front of you If you had thought about it you would have realized that if you moved that direction the W coming up would be impossible

Randidly just gave her a long glance

He had noticed something different about her since she obtained the Soul Skill But this was insane Truthfully no one had ever really understood how much work Mrs Hamilton did handling all the logistics of the NCCs But it certainly required a mind like a steel trap and an uncommon eye for detail And now with the bonuses provided by her soul skill

Her level of insight and planning was slightly intimidating

Randidly broke off the glance and tried again and again and again It was late afternoon before he finished performing at a level that Mrs Hamilton found barely acceptable

Stretching Randidly removed some food from his spatial ring and took several bites swiftly devouring the food Even though they had much increased stamina Aether only did so much in terms of support people with stats and skills still slowly developed an increasing amount of hunger Randidly consumed close to 40 pounds of food a day Luckily both the Wolverine raising and farming was booming otherwise he wasn’t even sure how much more growth Donnyton could support

After he had sated himself Randidly turned to Mrs Hamilton and asked What’s next

Quiet reflection or spell training I need to think a little about how I want to proceed and check in on Lyra I’ll come back around dinner with your training menu for the next week Good luck

Nonplussed Randidly watched her go then wandered a bit away from the training equipment While he calmly brewed potions he created swarms of pestilence he created Walls of Thorns and waves of Spearing Roots he shot Incendiary Bolts and made Rings of Fire He could still feel the small boost he could give his spells by burning a little bit more mana but Randidly didn’t force it now

Instead he just felt the mana expenditure feeling the small differences in the ways it flowed out of him depending on what spell he used They were currently just vague impressions but Randidly had the feeling that as his sensitivity increased he would grow nearer to having the same strange power as Lyra had able to freely manipulate and control mana

After he had repeated the cycle of spells several times he sat down to meditate activating Agony The vicious digging jarring pain became his world but Randidly was used to it now and his powerful will made it possible to ignore the worst of the pain for now Instead it served as a kind of isolation removing him from the influence of outward stimulus The sound of the wind and the warmth of sun on his skin slowly faded away leaving only his razor sharp focus

With his attention inward Randidly focused on the one area of himself that proved that it was possible to control Aether or at least to direct it that strange place where his Soul Skill rotated inside of himself Even now the strange decadent rotting green energy flew around the core of Aether opposite the bright orange energy burning everything the green energy left behind to ash

When he had caused the Aether to move two details of the situation stuck out to Randidly That he wanted to avoid his Soul Skills collapsing into nothing incredibly badly and that in that moment he had a strong image of Aether forming the core of a rotation balancing the two forces

From his experience with the system both of these were logically important The system responded to your desires With a stronger desire the system would respond more powerfully And your perspective on what the system was changed how it behaved It made sense that a powerful and logically consistent image of an outcome could bring that outcome to be

Since he had used Aether to change his Soul Skill why not experiment in that area again Refining the Soul Skill further He likely couldn’t do it immediately but while he was working on Agony and Meditation it was a good way to keep his mind occupied At the moment he didn’t have any ideas on how to do such a thing but Randidly believed that it was due to the fact that he didn’t have a strong image and wasn’t sure what he wanted

So sitting there the energies rotating within himself Randidly tried to imagine what was going on in this cycle

At first he tried to handle one at a time but then when he tried to move them together they crashed and collapsed probably like his Soul Skill would have if he let them encounter each other No if he was going to get the right image he needed to handle them all together

In his mind’s eye Randidly could see a small rocky prairie What was rot What was ash

He watched as grass grew in the prairie and then the rot came eating slowly away at the grasses forming a strange blobby mass as the rot consumed and grew Then the burning came devouring even more completely than the rot could devour burning away all of the biomass leaving only the earth For a short time there was nothing but then grasses began to poke out of the soil and grow and the cycle started again

Grass grew

When there was enough grass the rot swiftly spread growing large and fat and destructive

Then when the prairie was almost entirely rot the fire would come burning it all away leaving the prairie clean Only then could the grass grow again

The energies circled and circled even and steady never growing closer stead in the orbit Randidly watched entranced

Chapter 115

Sam swore and slammed his fist down denting the metal of the work table Tossing the failed engraving to the side he looked broodingly at his hands It was just too difficult to Engrave with his mana pool He couldn’t persist for the entirety of the process and when he ran out of mana the engraving suffered for it Sam hadn’t even finished this version and he knew it would be inferior to his previous attempt which was poor at best

What was most annoying was that most of his morning had been spent putting the fear of god into the new crafting recruits They didn’t take the system seriously enough They basically thought that the world had monsters now but all was mostly the same other than that Just put the effort in and create the equipment

But it wasn’t For whatever reason there were certain actions that the system recognized You had to observe those and learn to use them to your advantage

For example Sam had discovered early on that hammering in sets would increase the quality of a produced item If you hammered 11 times took a break then hammered 11 more times the entire forging process the item might be an extra stat point higher at the end If you just hammered normally you wouldn’t receive this benefit

Similarly putting a freshly made weapon into clean spring water would improve its quality over a weapon that was plunged in dirty water and then cleaned later

There was no scientific reason for these actions to have actual quantifiable effects on the forging process But they were symbolic gestures which the system recognized Whereas prior to the system people who were superstitious were looked down upon But now in the crafting corps at least such little rituals were regarded reverently as a point of pride Only with them carefully observed would the best quality product be created

Regina had wondered long term what sort of effect that would have on the mentality of the crafters but Sam just shrugged That was a lot less important than making quality weapons and armor Sam was much more concerned with what these rituals would become They were simple small things now but as they became more elaborate it was possible that they would manifest themselves as a skill

Of course this was only a pet theory of Sam’s and he didn’t have enough time to test it But a brief discussion with Clarissa had given him some hope She seemed to think it perfectly obvious that such things should happen and then she had hurried off to practice using certain hand motions or incantations along with her spells

In order to make sure the day wasn’t a complete waste Sam briefly considered practicing more Bone Shaping but discarded it His mood was too volatile right now What he really needed was

Then he blinked then frowned then smiled He might not go for it but if he did

If Randidly could take the time to learn Engraving

Gleefully rubbing his hands together Sam ran out of the forge and off north of Donnyton looking for his newest unknowing student

Time flowed quickly past Randidly was numb to it only following the constant cycle of rot and ash The more he watched the more Randidly grew to suspect something was missing The cycle continued unabated but Randidly had a strange feeling in his chest If he could find the source and push towards it

It could have been a minute it could have been a year Time melded and stretched Grass grew rot came ash burnt it all away Then there was nothing for a time

Then the grass grew

In his chest the feeling of wrongness grew stronger and stronger until

Randidly blinked looking up at the sky Something had pushed him down onto his back knocking him out of his trance He straightened but then fell back down surprised by the weakness in his limbs Wincing he struggled to his feet Lyra standing with her arms folded in front of him her mouth in a thin line

Don’t do that again She said coolly If you leave Agony on while you are in that state Your regeneration is monstrous but it isn’t that monstrous Do you know how dumb it would be if you died because you forgot that you had left the skill that burns your health on Fucking dumbass

Randidly opened his mouth to say something then closed it He could see the worry in Lyra’s eyes and he felt rather dumb for forgetting about his skill Even now he could feel his strength flowing back into his limbs It was almost a nostalgic weakness one he had not felt in a very very long time

He hadn’t felt like this since that first day when the world changed and he was casually brushed to the side by a ram reducing his health to nothing instantly

But he had gained two skills from that situation Iron Skin and Meditation which had been invaluable for his survival early on in this system world For that he would be forever grateful to that ram’s ass Randidly chuckled in spite of himself as he raised a health potion to his lips

Lyra scowled furiously Funny is it Well fuck you Go find Mrs Hamilton she has your training schedule We will see how much you laugh then

Several minutes later Randidly frowned down at the training schedule given to him by Mrs Hamilton

Is there a problem She inquired sweetly

Randidly slowly shook his head No I suppose not The first two days were continuations of what they had been doing thus far It would be difficult but manageable After that there was a bump in difficulty each day culminating at the end of two weeks with what Mrs Hamilton believed was his full potential

The difficulty was that Randidly would not be looking at notifications or using PP in that time Therefore the increases would come purely from his skill gains and from mental endurance Perhaps the first increase would be manageable but the 2nd and then the 3rd increase in difficulty all the way to the 12th

No Randidly said again this time much more confident He would walk the path before him to see where it led him There was no point in worrying about it now There’s no problem

Ahem

Both Randidly and Mrs Hamilton turned to find a dusty Sam standing in front of them Without waiting for any real response he plucked the paper from Randidly’s hands and then studied it for a while scratching his chin

Hmm A lot of physical and mental strain Sam muttered to himself eyes flicking up to Randidly This this might not be possible well If you had a hobby

Sam handed the paper back and then nodded seriously You’ve come to the right person I think I know how to help

No one came to you Mrs Hamilton said her expression bright Sam didn’t appear to hear

It’s a bit of a rough time for it but we go back a ways You can come work in my shop a little clear some of the cobwebs out of your head No need to thank me But we might as well start right now

With that Sam started dragging Randidly away leaving a chuckling Mrs Hamilton

I’ll see you tomorrow morning She said waving softly at the rapidly departing figures

As they were escorted through the strange alien village Alana noticed several things

First was that the village consisted of three groups with the two main ones being the rabbit people and the turtle people They fraternized a little but mostly the groups of people they passed heading to the village spirit’s house was made up of one or the other but not often both And their philosophical differences seemed to be at the center of what the group from Donnyton had witnessed

The third group was what Alana believed to be the youth of the village but they were strangely uniform and shrunken with tight grey skin They didn’t appear to be either rabbit or turtle people and Alana was rather mystified by their presence

Finally they arrived and were ushered into a large building There was a circle of benches where several aged individuals sat At the center a grey haired rabbit and a turtle with a long beard sat the former on her feet glowering the latter stroking his beard

Grandma As you requested I’ve returned after making contact Razor began but he was swiftly cut off

You idiot Why the hell did you take so long The elderly female rabbit snapped smashing her fist down on the table Alana’s eyes narrowed slightly Not only was her fist blow obviously strong enough to create a shockwave of force but the table barely trembled This was system enhanced wood

Razor shrugged awkwardly looking sheepish It was just I didn’t know who to talk to It seemed like the people over there didn’t even know that the portal was opening

Hmm Be that as it may your chest young Fleetfoot The turtle spoke his words slow Are those wounds

Razor’s hands balled into fists I’m only wounded because

But this time Razor was cut off by his sister whose hand clamped down on his shoulder The room was very still

Finish that sentence The elderly grey rabbit’s tone was frigid Her gaze slid sideways to the elderly turtle who was looking with apparent concern towards Razor

This woman must be Grandma ’ Alana thought to herself Her eyes scanned to the sides seeing both Rabbits and Turtles in armor standing around It would not be easy to leave this place without their hosts’ assistance And for whatever reason it seemed that the other female rabbit was preventing Razor from telling the truth

Looking at the ground I’m only wounded because I fell down a hill

Is that so The grey rabbit’s eyes floated sideways to Alana So then strange travelers tell us how could you allow my grandson to fall so dangerously down a hill But more importantly how are you willing to make it up to me

With a gift obviously

Alana Devan and Razor all blinked Kiersty who had been carried here unconscious by Devan sat up

We are going to have to go outside though She added Plants need sunlight to grow

Well it’s not exactly simple but it’s not exactly hard either Do you think you can manage it Sam said scratching his head

Randidly looked in wonder at the needle in his hand covered in a network of runes He nodded slowly

Yes I believe so For when Randidly held the needle his normally recalcitrant mana trembled Initially Randidly had been very dubious over whether he could learn this skill especially without notifications That extra hint that flash of knowledge those were what he had relied on thus far to learn skills But he supposed that even without the notifications he was still gaining experience So there was no difference

The second problem that Randidly thought he would encounter was channeling the mana He had never been able to get his mana to so much as acknowledge him But the needle felt like literally a needle poking that impenetrable bubble that had been around his mana allowing the mana to flow freely down the needle to the tip

Of course he couldn’t do anything but basically control the amount that was flowing down the needle to etch with and even that was quite shaky But still Proof of a concept It was not that it was impossible to manipulate mana just that his method wasn’t currently sophisticated enough Again Randidly couldn’t help but admire Lyra’s accomplishments

But for now he furrowed his brow and focused on the iron shield in front of him focusing on flawlessly carving the lines of the Bear rune onto it It really wasn’t all that mentally restive in a way Of all the exercises although the others tired him out and the letters on the peg were endlessly frustrating nothing required the constant focus of this

At the same time it was enjoyable to lose himself in the focus It would make Randidly reflected a nice hobby

Chapter 116

The next day passed in a blur

When he wasn’t being derided by Sam for his lack of mana control he was going through one of Mrs Hamilton’s training games or dodging around Lyra’s mana birds which were becoming increasingly difficult to avoid Between those exercises Randidly ate as much food as he could fit inside of himself and burned through his mana throwing out spell after spell flexing the extra mana to increase the effectiveness He believed that he was slowly growing more proficient in this method but it was hard to tell

Then there were the times that Randidly trained in the individual steps of Footwork of the Spear Phantom familiarizing himself with the moves Only by repetition would the distances he could travel with the different steps become instinct and he would truly be on the path to mastery

Randidly also took time out of the day to practice his spear moves and skills He considered trying to improve the effectiveness of his Ashen Spear skill and perhaps learn the next Kata but Randidly didn’t know where to begin Once more he believed that the spear move was created due to the powerful image that Randidly had at the time

That image was due to Shal’s teaching and philosophies about the spear as well as Randidly’s own previous insights into the power that was Ash Together they formed a powerful penetrative move To develop another such move he would likely have to have more ideas and images about what to do Instead it would perhaps be more effective to simply improve on the moves he had now familiarizing himself with them

Which Randidly hoped would happen naturally during this time of training His ideas about how a spear advances would hopefully change and his meditative moments when he slowly settled and watched the soul skill cycle within himself gave him more and more insights into ash At some point he would be able to combine them he hoped but now was much too early

Instead he just threw himself into the training Unlike training under Shal there was no constant threat of violence but in a way that only made things worse There were moments where Randidly waivered during Mrs Hamilton’s grueling exercise regimen and wanted to quit or ease up Was it really necessary to go to such lengths Was it really possible to accomplish such things without improving his stats

Mrs Hamilton certainly thought so Randidly thought so initially but when he thought about how much the difficulty would increase over the next two weeks

After one of the exercises where Randidly dodged the mana birds he looked over to Lyra who was sitting on the ground His eyes widened as he saw that she grimly glared at him wiping a long thin trail of blood that was coming out of her nose Then she soundlessly stood and walked away

He obviously had noticed that the birds were moving in increasingly complicated patterns that made it difficult to dodge And he had noticed that halfway through just as he was starting to run out of options dodging became much easier He had assumed it was because his knowledge of the steps was beginning to pay dividends which was probably true but if it was also because he wasn’t the only one pushing himself beyond his limits

If Lyra was struggling furiously to grow stronger too

Randidly’s eyes narrowed That was right he wasn’t simply racing down this path in order to see what lay at the end but also because there were other individuals out there struggling forward on their own paths It wasn’t enough to be strong but you also needed to be stronger than the people who mean you harm

This Randidly said aloud watching Lyra walk away speaking quietly so she wouldn’t hear This isn’t enough I need more

Instead of resting Randidly raised his spear and began to practice waiting for the next exercise to begin

Daniel yawned sitting up Although sleeping wasn’t necessary for him any longer he still enjoyed the leisure time So every day at sundown he would lie down for a 3 hour nap to clear his head and lounge on some cushions and pillows he had squirreled away

Setting aside the pile of paperwork having to do with the trading convoy Donnyton was sending south to Franksburg in the next few days Daniel ambled towards his door scratching his butt After all the fact that the person at the door hadn’t yelled meant it wasn’t someone who could truly threaten him

At the same time the fact they dared come to the door was a bit

Daniel opened the door only to find a woman standing in the darkness her eyes blazing with a strange light the Classer that guarded Daniel during the night standing to the side fearfully

Inwardly Daniel made a mental note to go among the NCCs and to start training someone to be his full time body guard This guy randomly assigned to him was apparently intimidated by a

The woman turned to him giving him a face full of anger blast Daniel gasped in spite of himself

Where The woman growled reaching up and grabbing Daniel by his collar Are my CHILDREN

Randidly lay panting on the ground reexamining the day’s training It was rough Beyond rough He could feel the slowly growing ache of sore muscles something that he hadn’t felt in a long time Not since the system had come to this world At no point even under Shal had he pushed his physical limits to this degree

Part of it was the methods with Shal he held on as long as he could and then was knocked senseless by Shal’s brutal spear giving him a chance to rest Here he continued with the back breaking exercises with only small breaks in between Time and time again his focus and patience were tested and he was tempted to give in allowing his body a break

But Mrs Hamilton’s small smile made him hold on Lyra’s scrunched up face as she tried to catch him with her birds of mana made him hold on The image of that group of Classers from Donnyton battered but ready to fight him to the death made him hold on

This was his path And even if it was hard Randidly refused to stop walking it Not for pain not for respite not for even Judgement from the system That was how he wanted to live

Frowning Randidly leaned forward Although he was definitely improving physically it was slow he could barely feel any differences in how he was able to handle the difficulty When training changed

But perhaps there was another solution If he could create an armor of roots with root manipulation

Randidly laughed aloud amused at the image Then he shook his head ruefully Even though he was better and his control was monstrous for his level there were likely even more monstrous mages out there in the Nexus Perhaps one day he would get to that level but for now

Focusing his will Randidly poured his energy into the ground and the roots there responded They pulsed and moved curving up out of the ground inflating with his will twisting into 3x their original size Then Randidly shaped them moving the roots smoothly together forming a hand That hand clenched itself into a fist then flexed itself opening

Randidly pressed harder with his will and a second hand sprang into existence Grunting Randidly pushed even further conjuring a long thin trunk of roots that spiraled upwards raising the hands to chest height splitting and forming two arms

Sweat dripping off of his brow Randidly pressed a little forward and two roots sprang from the ground and spiraled upwards ever so slowly They rotated around each other closely bound winding even tighter Randidly breathed carefully afraid to spoil the spell Maintaining the hands the torso and this new object of roots all at once

To say nothing of the mana expenditure which was quite significant his attention divided between so many different roots in so many different shapes was quite stretched maintaining it all

But finally the spiral had reached a height of 7 feet and the two hands reached forward grasping the spear of roots hefting it raising it Eyes glowing Randidly felt the connection between himself and the strange root avatar more than just the fact that he was maintaining it with his mana

So he closed his eyes focusing on it and he realized that it was feeding him a small bit of information a small fraction of tactile sensation Although it was faint he could feel the root spear in his hands So he gripped it

Then he thrust it forward instinctively aiming for a Phantom Thrust The spear cut quickly through the air but it felt oddly clumsy Frowning Randidly opened his eyes All at once the strain of maintaining the avatar overwhelmed him and the roots started to bulge and twist straying from the desired shape

Snorting Randidly crushed the resistance forcing the roots back into line and then drank a mana potion He would need more mana to maintain this Then he produced his small training spear and closed his eyes

The root avatar gripped the spear with him and Randidly had the extremely odd sensation of controlling two bodies at once But in a way it was simple because he wanted them to perform the same action he used Phantom Thrust

His main body unleashed a thrust that ripped forward through the air with audible speed But once more the root avatar felt clumsy But this time Randidly caught why he felt so strange when he used the avatar

System assist huh Randidly muttered to himself It was small and slight but minor differences in stance posture and source of force that were instinctual for his actual body didn’t occur in the avatar Or perhaps they couldn’t because he was using roots Of course Randidly shouldn’t have any instincts of the sort He had never handled anything remotely like a spear before the system and his training after the system was still quite short and rather haphazard

The only explanation was that the skill levels were giving him training wheels’ that let him succeed more easily He obviously could still improve a lot in his actual technique but these training wheels were also areas that he could improve on because he could observe them in the differences between his normal form and the movements of the root avatar

Randidly wasn’t sure whether it would actually help but then smothered that thought Image was important Of course it would help He would more fully understand the skill increasing the skill level

Which would in turn probably increase the amount of system assistance which would give him more areas to focus on during his training The corner of Randidly’s mouth curled upward

Then he sighed and rubbed his forehead the root avatar falling to pieces Another benefit of training like this at night would be that he would train Root Manipulation at the same time but it was also extremely tiring mentally He would take a break for now then continue later

Chuckling Randidly gathered his things and began walking back towards Donnyton It wasn’t quite a break but Sam was quite insistent that he continue to learn to Engrave His skill wasn’t even to the point where he could control the leaking mana well enough to form an entire rune but it was nearing that point And it was excellent practice in detail orientation even if it was only marginally less mentally draining than the root avatar

Randidly supposed he would need an actual hobby soon But preferably one that would take no time so he could keep up this training speed

Karen mother of Kiersty and Nathan glared daggers at Regina and Daniel What do you mean you don’t know

The two exchanged helpless glances and were about to speak when another figure appeared

Karen I have to take responsibility for this one In all of the recent excitement I lost count of the days It completely slipped my mind Mrs Hamilton said stepping forward with a smile Behind her Decklan’s full squad stood grimly outfitted in leather and steel rubbed in charcoal to dull its reflective properties Annie and a few of the more skilled archers stood with them serious expressions on their faces

What Daniel asked bewildered but Karen was much more direct

What did you forget She demanded

Mrs Hamilton’s smile turned decidedly vicious the smile curling upwards That we have new neighbors

It took a few seconds but recognition finally arrived at Daniel’s brain and he paled immediately The whole troop quickly moved heading to the portal to their sister town The air rippled softly but otherwise it seemed extremely peaceful like a scenic pond

My children wandered in there alone Karen asked her anger giving way to horror but Decklan shook his head

No from what we can tell Alana and Devan’s squad are also missing and likely accompanied her She will be safe His voice was low and sure and Karen visibly calmed down somewhat nodding towards him thankfully

So He continued looking around at his squad Let’s go investigate this other village

In a fluid motion they loped forward low and silent passing through the rippling doorway to another world

Alana slumped to the ground covered in blood Although the sprouting of Arbor and the aura it provided did a lot to change the rabbit woman’s opinion of them it didn’t seem sufficient in her harsh eyes Her grandson’s life was very important A more genuine apology was necessary in order to compensate for allowing such an accident to happen

Inwardly Alana was furious at the whole charade But for whatever reason the people who knew that the injuries were inflicted by the turtles were desperate to hide that fact from the grey haired rabbit And for now Alana was content to fight for this strange animal village defending it for a small amount of time Not because she thought it would be particularly beneficial to the village but it would be very very difficult for Kiersty and Nathan to be protected on that journey

Besides Alana wasn’t a child that cared overmuch for whether something was true enough Real life wasn’t so simple and it seemed the group from Donnyton had just gotten caught between the two strange races here Alana hadn’t forgotten the turtle’s earlier mention of the Class draft they were instituting which did a lot to demonstrate how badly things were going for the village

The compensation ended up being holding off the swarms of monsters that were constantly besetting this village from every side It seemed that while Donnyton had waited quite a while to grow in strength before upgrading to the Trainee tier this village had rushed to that level due to some general information about the buildings available at that tier and what they could do to improve the village’s chances at surviving

Unfortunately the information obtained by this world was rather general they didn’t realize that a Trainee village also would have to cope with Raid Bosses They also didn’t possess someone with the extremely overpowered abilities that Glendel had so they were unable to really locate Raid Bosses until they had established themselves and spawned Lieutenant monsters These monsters were just slightly stronger than the normal mob spawned by a nearby Raid Boss but they also could spawn their own minions and possessed a fierce intelligence that the Raid Bosses lacked

Under the constant raids of these Lieutenant monsters the defenses of this village were slowly being eroded their powerful Classers driven to exhaustion They simply didn’t have enough bodies to hold them off Meanwhile it seemed the turtles wanted to force some individuals to take classes but the Rabbits were unwilling to do so So the turtles needed a way to incite the grandma rabbit to act and also a scapegoat so the village wouldn’t destroy itself with infighting

Which is where Alana and Devan’s squad came into the picture they were the perfect victim Luckily they had managed to preserve Razor’s life or

Alana shook her head It was bad enough already Just today they had already slaughtered 3 such Lieutenant monsters ambushing them as they came to attack the spring that served as the village’s water supply

Forebodingly they were all of the same type of monster and they had spotted more such groups watching from the shadows those Raid Bosses had already established themselves here and were propagating at an exponential rate

The village was aware of this and Alana was able to slowly parse out some things about the situation Whether it was racial or not the rabbit and turtle people were firmly divided about what to do on the issue although Alana couldn’t figure out the details She also asked Cadence who was Razor’s sister about the children and apparently those little grey people at a certain age chose’ whether to become turtles or rabbits

But as Alana asked more pointed questions she had clammed up unwilling to speak further

Groaning at the aches in her body Alana slipped off her shoes and began to massage the soles of her feet

At least the skill leveling was good she mused to herself but then looked up to a knock at the door The door which was just a stone wheel was rolled to the side to reveal Cadence Come there is someone you must meet

Karen glanced fearfully at Mrs Hamilton who had turned away from the portal and began to walk away Where are you going

Unfortunately there are other things I must handle Mrs Hamilton said consolingly But Decklan is smart as well as an incredibly talented fighter He can handle this Trust in Donnyton Your children will return safe

Chapter 117

Randidly swore quietly to himself lowering the bracer back to the work table Once more he had let too much mana flow at once and it had pooled and warped the rune soon cracking the bracer So not only had he failed at the Engraving but the armor was also ruined

Luckily or annoyingly Sam had him working with amateur level leather bracers made by some of the new recruits from Franksburg It had made Randidly want to tell them that even their inept attempts had meaning They weren’t just grinding away at their skill levels They were helping him grind away at skill levels

Shaking his head Randidly refocused on the bracer before him Sam cautioned him to focus on one rune so he had kept attempting the Dragonfly rune It was perhaps the simplest or rather the shortest rune in terms of line length But at the same time the middle section had several graceful loops that required the most delicate mana control in order to execute properly

Engraving weirdly reminded Randidly of icing a cake The medium was already there and it was a matter of controlling how much substance came out on top of it and where Unfortunately unlike icing a cake there was a constant pressure of mana more pushing to come out of the Engraving Needle which needed to be constantly monitored and controlled Just like water too this pressure lessened as Randidly burned through his mana So the pressure was initially much higher than it was by the end of the Engraving

Further calculating things was that even the slightest distraction caused Randidly’s focus to waiver and that waiver either increased or decreased the pressure for mana to come out The outcomes were rather random seeming but Randidly suspected that it had something to do with the type of distraction and how it affected him

However Sam didn’t appear to have any of these problems and was instead limited by his mana pool so Randidly didn’t bring it up for now

Inwardly there were times that he was tempted to open up his Path screen and spend the PP that he had likely gained Hopefully he had gained enough to give him some distributable stats and with that he could improve his Control and Focus which would increase the efficiency of this skill grinding

But in a way that too was the wrong path After seeing Mrs Hamilton’s training Randidly realized it was less about increasing his possible output but giving him mastery of the skills and stats he did have Skill Levels would be gained as he further familiarized himself with the skills but that wasn’t the end goal it was to develop a mentality that let him use his skills to their utmost potential

It was Randidly supposed a classical type of training After all before the system there would always be an absolute wall for humans in terms of what was physically possible They did not have the luxury of raising their stats to run more quickly

Instead they trained to lower the time it took for them to reach that limit of running quickly They changed their running form to maximize their results They lost weight or gained weight or changed their diet to sculpt their bodies all towards this goal of not pushing the boundaries but moving closer to them

But she had a point Randidly admitted At any time he could raise his stats But to make him utilize his stats more skillfully That would require a concerted effort And it was undoubtedly worth it

Setting those thoughts aside Randidly turned to his next bracer But as he picked it up he didn’t yet use the Engraving Needle Instead he closed his eyes and breathed very slowly seeking something He looked deep within himself for moments where he was truly content

Struggling under Shal moving with him through the dungeon

Fighting at night during those early monster hordes being unstoppable amongst them

Letting Agony burn away his excess thoughts fighting outside Franksburg

Challenging all of Donnyton’s Classers holding up that final Inspired Circle of Flame preparing to unleash it

Repeatedly using his new found mastery of Footwork of the Spear Phantom to dodge Lyra’s birds of mana

Randidly grinned Who would have known that he took such joy in training to the point that he felt extremely powerful Although he supposed it really wasn’t that shocking Everyone desired to feel important and capable

Now that he had gotten here he sure as hell wasn’t going to slack off and let go of those feelings

Randidly lowered the needle and began to Engrave

When Alana walked into the low ceilinged hut Devan was already there arms folded and Kiersty and Nathan were curled up in the corner on a cushion An old woman sat in a rocking chair watching them her hair black her ears droopy and greying at the edges But Alana froze as she entered into the room looking at that woman

Since fighting for so long she had developed a pretty reliable ability to look at an opponent and guess their strength This woman was at the level of the Ghosthound maybe stronger

She turned and looked at Alana her face a labyrinth of wrinkles as she smiled Bert The guests are here Bring some drinks

An extremely elderly turtle shambled out of a side door carrying a tray with several mugs Alana blinked the aura of the elderly woman washed away by the tide of bloodlust that sprung from this new arrival His expression was bored but Alana could not avoid the vicious realization that this man could kill her as easy as breathing The edges of her vision began to darken and she couldn’t muster enough strength to even breath

Bert stop that These are guests

It was like that oppressive aura was a bad smell and the woman’s words were a breeze lightly brushing it away Which in a way was even more intimidating The woman smiled at Alana You have questions I’m sure But I don’t involve myself much in the affairs of the other totems Instead I’d like to talk about our village’s Kith Klark’s gift for Donnyton I’ve taken a look at that plant the girl brought over and it is quite unique Useful and attractive I haven’t seen something so intriguing since Bert here was a young man

She smiled good naturedly at Bert who had given Devan and Alana a mug Bert simply glanced at the woman his face inscrutable

I don’t mean to be rude but who are you I don’t understand much about your kind but You don’t appear to be either a Rabbit or a Turtle Devan spoke slowly his eyes locked on Bert the entire while But it made Alana take a second glance at the woman and she realized it was true her ears were smaller and more angular and she could see the curl of a tail around the back of the chair

Excuse me Where are my manners I’m Hess And yes you are correct Typically Kiths in our world have 3 totems each Usually two are dominant while the third takes on a special role in the village Yes I am neither a Long Footed Hare or the Grey Shelled Turtle I am the current Spectral Lynx

Hess put her chin on her fist looking at Devan and Alana with glittering eyes But I did find it extremely interesting that the girl spoke of a Ghosthound It is perhaps fate that ectoplasmic cats and dogs are at each other’s throats constantly is it not

There was only silence to answer her

But then Hess laughed slapping her knee Oh come on did you really think I would push our villages towards war just for a dumb coincidence like that Jeez you don’t have a very optimistic view of the situation now do you That old hare might have as much sense as a barrel of gunpowder and the turtle have as much foresight as fashion sense but I’m very wise I assure you Despite the events I have allowed this past week

Devan looked sheepish but kept his eyes on Bert Alana rubbed the back of her neck Yes well it hasn’t exactly been sunshine and butterflies between us The welcoming party for us

When the Turtles tried to kill the Hare Elder’s grandson Quite an unfortunate choice that But I think it will ultimately prove beneficial to you

Alana regarded the woman flatly I see

Chortling Hess turned to Bert Bert fetch those newcomers before they cause any trouble I have an idea

Nodding Bert ambled to the door all but disappearing as he rounded the corner Hess turned back to Devan and Alana and made small talk speaking of small matters explaining the details of village life asking about Donnyton At first Alana hesitated but it truly seemed as though the cat woman in front of them possessed no guile she was simply curious

So they began to open up slightly in regards to facts about the village Based on what Hess was saying Donnyton was much much larger than this village which they called Kith Klark They were not the village prior to the system with the strongest warriors but a lucky series of events let them become the first village in their zone to reach the level of Trainee Village Since then they had been struggling to survive and had to withdraw most of their villagers to the inner part of the village There were simply too many Raid Bosses spawning too quickly

Although it hadn’t occurred to her before Alana was forced to admit that Donnyton was much better off than this village even though they hadn’t been forewarned about the approach of the system

It was all because a guardian Ghosthound was there to protect them until they had their legs under them

Randidly leaned back barely suppressing a grin

Engraving of Dragonfly 20% © Wearer of the armor has a small chance of moving more quickly when moving with the wind

It wasn’t all that impressive of an effect but it was a successful completion Randidly’s first even after 3 hours of work He supposed that in the old world this learning speed would be prodigious but now it was slightly disappointing

But then again the point of the training was to make things seem more like the old way of training thereby shifting expectations and results So it made sense that Randidly wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of some of the system assistance from Skill Levels

Randidly brought the finished product over to Sam who looked at it then blinked C C Common rarity

Turning to Randidly Sam glared daggers at him Randidly shrugged helplessly What did Sam expect It was only his first try He had figured an achievement at this level was to be expected

Snorting Sam muttered to himself Probably a fluke Then directed Randidly to return to the bench and keep practicing until he could do three in a row Although Randidly wanted to train some other things Randidly supposed it was fair

But secretly for the rest of the night while he was trying and failing at Engraving he kept a tightly packed ball of Pestilence under the table controlling it very carefully

Randidly’s head throbbed painfully as his attempt cracked another bracer Grimacing Randidly rubbed his temples for a few seconds but then picked up another bracer Although it was difficult the only way to get stronger was to push

The only way to move forward was to continue to walk

Chapter 118

Decklan twitched his brain recognizing a lot of information at once and combing through it It was only a split second of frozen indecision then he continued to creep forward as though nothing had happened

When they arrived there were guards but they weren’t paying very close attention to the portal so Decklan and Annie’s groups slipped away before they were noticed joining the strange blue treeline nearby Annie faded into the foliage slipping away while the rest followed Decklan They found a small clearing and Decklan sent Tera to scout around trusting her to remain discreet

Perhaps it would have been better to just make contact but the fact that Alana and Devan had disappeared for a day meant that this wasn’t exactly a simple situation After Tera discovered the general direction of the village they began to move that way

But as they did so Decklan’s instincts abruptly screamed that something very powerful was watching them His body froze but his Killer’s Instincts obtained at Lvl 30 from his class immediately contradicted that saying he should continue to walk pretending not to notice the powerful watcher After all if the watcher assumed Decklan had no idea of his presence he might not view him as a threat

So Decklan continued to walk cursing himself inwardly for freezing up but doing his best to relax the lines of his shoulders But his worst fears came to pass or at least a version of them An anthropomorphic turtle appeared on the path in front of him bent with age but clearly the source of that oppressive aura

The turtle grunted Passable You detected me and you chose to mask your knowledge rather than act But your execution was lacking Follow me

The turtle turned away and the rest of the group just gaped but Decklan straightened and said And if we don’t

After pausing for a second the turtle turned back and gave Decklan a mild glance Without saying anything he turned away again and began to slowly hobble forward arms behind his back

Grimacing Decklan signalled his squad and everyone gathered and followed neatly behind this strange figure Decklan was frustrated but after meeting that turtle’s gaze he had no confidence of resisting him even if they all worked together

But it seemed that Annie had escaped the turtle’s notice so all was not lost Decklan fervently hoped she wouldn’t do anything stupid

Alana was surprised when Bert returned leading Decklan and his squad but said nothing They all crowded into the low ceiling room Hess smiling at them all

Welcome welcome Bert some more drinks Bert nodded calmly and meandered towards that side door once more Now welcome friends from Donnyton I am Hess one of the three elders of this village Kith Klark Unfortunately the one with the least influence but still

Decklan’s eyes moved from Alana to Devan to the Kiersty and Nathan still sleeping on the cushion in the corner of the room then to Hess Thank you for your hospitality My name’s Decklan one of the leaders of Donnyton’s 3 Speciality Squads I also am a part of Donnyton’s council On behalf of all of Donnyton I thank you for taking such good care of our people while they are visiting your world

To Alana’s ears Decklan’s words sounded very forced and it seemed Hess heard it too because the cat woman smiled lightly

You are welcome But we don’t need to act too stuffy after all the other elders are using you two to play games with each other Hess said cheerily Although their motivations are different Now who wants some cider

The room around her was filled with a heavy silence

Later that night as Decklan leaned against the wall he felt exactly what he was waiting for the soft whisper of a ghost in his ear He listened carefully then quietly began to explain the situation to Glendel

In the early hours before dawn Randidly laboriously created another avatar made of roots forming the body the arms and finally the spear Then equally slowly Randidly had the avatar thrust out with its spear

Randidly raised his spear and with his eyes closed mirrored the action Noticing the small differences between them Randidly tried to adjust his form but after several more thrusts with the avatar nothing had changed The spear thrust was just as ungainly

Smaller then ’ Randidly thought to himself He thrust again with his own spear There were so many parts that felt natural that just happened easily and those were what he needed to systematically identify and understand if he was to improve

The avatar thrust forward with Randidly’s attention focused simply on the way he used the vines to grip the spear Afterwards he thrust with his body

He made a small adjustment to the tightness of the avatar’s grip and tried again

He thrust with his body

He made a small adjustment

Over and over he pressed and pressed starting with the grip tightness moving to the balance of his hands the distance between his two hands

Avatar thrust body thrust

Tiny adjustments

Several seconds of thinking followed by no adjustments

Over and over until Randidly blinked opening his eyes to the warm of the dawn’s rays He grimaced slightly annoyed that he had lost track of time But it was important to do this His training in the Spear needed some organization to it It was just discouraging that it took so long to make such small gains

Almost against his will Randidly grinned Had he really gotten so spoiled in the months he had lived with the system Although he didn’t learn much from the father who was absent most of his life he did remember one of the few visits the man made to him and his mom

It was recently after his parents divorced and Randidly was still young at that point Randidly had asked his father why he had to live in this new tiny apartment with his mother now without him

His father looked at him with his calculating grey eyes and asked If I let you live with me how will you compensate me

Randidly just stared dumbly at him

His father shook his head almost sadly Your mother and her weird fucking names listen to me little R what’s worth having is worth working for Never ask for handouts Then his father straightened and left

Randidly trembled slightly He wasn’t sure why he remembered that man just now but it wasn’t a pleasant feeling He hadn’t thought about them much since he left his mother to her string of boyfriends refusing to return the once a year calls on his birthday from his father That family was dead to him

But still he felt a pang in his heart Because his new family too was probably

Squeezing his eyes shut Randidly cut off that train of thought What he needed now was strength To find anyone who might still be alive To protect the things he held dear

And he would only get that through work

After taking a moment to appreciate the beauty of the sunrise Randidly turned walking towards the training area It would be another long day but Randidly needed it Because his current self Wasn’t enough He craved more

Mrs Hamilton tapped on the table with perfect measure almost like a metronome The rest of the figures around the table Regina Glendel Daniel Clarissa and Sam stood still frowning at their respective fingers Glendel had just reported the strange situation of the other village as well as Alana and Decklan could figure it

Donny and Dozer were both absent going to clear the dungeons next to old Turtletown and Donnyton respectively Now that Turtletown had fallen and most of its people slowly drifted over to Donnyton after realizing their previous town had fallen monsters spewing from that location were becoming a serious problem for the trade route they planned on establishing to Franksburg

Mrs Hamilton’s tapping stopped Best to wait it out huh They should be able to take care of themselves over there

Everyone else was silent After a long moment Glendel spoke The children don’t appear to be in any danger

But their mother Sam muttered his arms folded

Mrs Hamilton sighed Regina straightened and said I agree with Mrs Hamilton This is diplomacy Delicacy and tact is important here

Even when they aren’t bothering with it at all Daniel muttered and he was rewarded with glares from Sam and Regina

Smiling Mrs Hamilton added and their continued presence allows them to intimately become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of our sister village

The others mulled this over for a short while In other news how is the Adventurer’s Guild building Mrs Hamilton asked

Daniel’s eyes came alive It’s extraordinary Not only does it provide quests but it also appears that there is a function similar to what Nul could provide with skill trials Though unfortunately the selection is much more bland but as more missions are completed the building grows and more options should be unlocked

In addition Clarissa added with a grin glancing at Daniel After the building was created we have seen a higher incidence of Yellow named monsters which seem to be related to quests Often these are quite a bit stronger than normal monsters in the area but you seem to need to accomplish a series of prerequisites to fight them or to barge directly into the area they are using as a lair Nothing bad has happened thus far but some of them are quite near to the village limits

But their bodies are excellent for parts Sam interjected smiling slightly

A bang rang out dragging everyone’s attention back to the center of the table where Glendel sat He looked up at them all pleadingly You are really alright with this Just letting those children stay over there They didn’t seem to mean us harm exactly but Could we at least ask them to return the children

After a long moment Mrs Hamilton nodded Actually that’s a good idea I’m sad I didn’t think of it They will likely refuse and it will make them think they have a negotiation advantage

Glendel blinked They will refuse

Mrs Hamilton checked the sun and stood to go Yes but that’s not the real reason that it wouldn’t work She will refuse to return too

I don’t want to go back Kiersty said with exaggerated patience before Hess even had a chance to respond Adults needed to be treated very delicately sometimes

Devan and Decklan’s squads were about to go out and help with the monster problem that Kith Klark was dealing with but Decklan had taken the time to ask that Kiersty and Nathan be allowed to return to Donnyton

After all there is still a bit more to do here Kiersty added then calmly walked out the door Right as she arrived Bert appeared gravely opening the door for her and giving her a small bow She smiled at him pleased She quite liked this turtle man that gave her cider and snuck her treats all the time

And in addition she didn’t have a bedtime over here Why would she ever go back to Donnyton

Scared and intimidated Nathan as always was dragged out by virtue of unwillingness to lose proximity with his sister He looked so scared that Kiersty almost felt bad But then she shook her head steeling her resolve After all there was a lot of work to do This wasn’t the time to be selfish

Arbor had barely gotten his roots into the soil here There was still much to do and lately Kiersty had felt that her growth had become somewhat stagnant She needed a new activity to distract her and keep her entertained

It was time to evangelize

Chapter 119

When Kiersty walked out of the hut several turtle guards with crossbows scrambled out of the way Originally they had been very disapproving of allowing her to wander freely but Bert had said a quiet word to one and instantly they became well behaved springing to attention whenever she passed

She smiled at them but they were not her quarry she continued onwards down the small path away from the hill that formed Hess’ and Bert’s house Kith Klark was built on a lake with the turtles having raft dwellings on the lake while the Rabbits built low to the ground clay longhouses on the lakeshore There was a large obelisk where the center of the town was which Kiersty had heard was the source of the strange animalistic characteristic they developed

Even with her newfound freedom Kiersty wasn’t that interested in the strange obelisk but instead went to the small clearing to the north of the town where she had laid the seed of Arbor When she had left it two days ago it had barely been a bump in the ground but now when she walked into the clearing she saw a few dozen of the small grey skinned children gathering around the central location where she had planted Arbor

As she walked over the group seemed to notice her and spread out clearing a path to the center glancing around nervously There poking around two feet out of the ground was a small sapling It waved excitedly as she approached which caused the grey children to mutter to each other

Do you like Arbor Kiersty asked simply looking a few of the nearest straight in the eye They glanced at each other but remained silent Shrugging Kiersty walked closer to the tree until she stood over it Then with a strange delicacy she drew a finger up what would be the trunk of this Arbor It curled protectively into her hand rubbing against her like a pet

She felt its confusion and its loneliness being here cut off from the other Arbors But also its growing curiosity and wonder for these new strange creatures around it

Nodding decisively Kiersty took two steps back and raised her arms to mirror the tiny Arbor and began to dance Gleefully swaying the Arbor followed her wiggling back and forth wildly The children took several steps backwards but Kiersty ignored them focusing on Arbor

She was after all the Priestess of Arbor The plant would always be her first priority

After a few seconds of hesitation Nathan walked up and joined her dancing with Arbor They continued like this for several minutes before the silence was finally broken by one of the grey children

What are you doing There was a thread of judgement and derision in the question but more curiosity Kiersty carefully kept her face serious It wouldn’t do for them to know this is exactly what she was waiting for

Dancing Kiersty said matter of factly

But why The grey child said emboldened Although they all looked the same Kiersty had the impression that this one was was slightly taller than the others and put its hands on its hips in a way that made her believe it was a she

Because it makes the tree grow faster Nathan added bless his heart Kiersty continued to suppress her smile feeling slightly warm that Nathan so dutifully answered when and how she needed him to

The grey child snorted and turned away Although the group walked some distance they eventually stopped and turned unable to keep their attention from the strangers that came to their village Just like Kiersty was slightly fascinated with them and their strange bodies and abilities But she had a higher mission right now and had no time to play around

Still now she simply danced feeling Arbor’s happy joy A miracle would come soon she knew They just needed to dance until then

Randidly’s arm trembled as he lowered the spear He had just failed for the second time on the training exercise where the series of rings hung and he had to stab through them at a constant speed Only today Mrs Hamilton had increased the difficulty

First she had raised the weight of the spear by 1 pound which Randidly had thought to be almost negligible but as his first attempt had dragged on it had become increasingly apparent Still he was able to grit his teeth and force through it His arms could handle more than this and he started using Mana Strengthening in order to make up the difference in physical conditioning

Unfortunately that wasn’t the only change she made to the exercise

How about we add a little complication eh Mrs Hamilton had said with a bright smile and she gently pushed the apparatus and it began to rotate The rotation was slow but it was uneven as it slowly ground to a halt and Mrs Hamilton gently pushed it again to start the spinning

To her credit she demonstrated an intimidating amount of control with her pushes without fail they reached the same speed and slowed down over around 40 seconds Unfortunately it was still quite easy to break his constant rhythm while waiting for her to press and also when Randidly hit the edges of the hoops half the time they were knocked to the side resulting in him failing the exercise

Gritting his teeth Randidly started again ignoring the small smile that Mrs Hamilton always seemed to wear now This time he would

But he stopped lowering his spear A strange thrumming resonated in his chest It was strange It did it again a low constant pressure as if someone was tugging at a thread that lead into his heart

Just a second Randidly said to Mrs Hamilton closing his eyes With his senses focused inward he could see more clearly what was going on one of the streams of Aether that lead back to him was vibrating strangely Randidly focused more narrowly but they all disappeared so he could only sigh and remain unfocused

Very gradually his sense of the Aether connections within him returned There was the roiling ball that formed his core spreading energy out through his body Then there was the 4 thin threads that slid off winding to those individuals that he gave a Soul Skill to That connection existed even here feeding them

But then there were two larger ropey connections of Aether Of those two the smaller was the one that was vibrating

one of the plants leveled up ’ Randidly thought with a frown If so there didn’t seem to be much he could do Without notifications he would have no idea what the different options were for the evolution Increasing his plants strength was important but there really wasn’t any need for it to happen quickly right

So Randidly ignored the strange thrumming and returned to the exercise He focused his attention on his hands and arms controlling the spear to make it all the way through the slowly rotating hoops even if it did knock several to the side during his thrusts The important thing was maintaining a steady pace and making it through all of the hoops in order

But as Randidly was halfway through his exercises the thrumming returned more demanding He ignored it continuing to control the spear One of the tricks Randidly was starting to realize was to never let the spear be a dead thing in your hands Instead you needed to move it as if it was a living thing with all of the weight concentrated at the tip Focus there would make the exercise much more difficult but

The resonance sharply rose within his chest a strange ringing that swiftly became so powerful that his physical body twitched Although it was a small twitch it was enough to throw off his thrust Annoyed Randidly turned his attention back inward This time he didn’t examine he just reached grabbing the thrumming connection of Aether

Instantly his consciousness was hit with a wave of sensation Rather than knowing what the upgrades would do or how it would change Arbor Randidly felt them two splitting paths Paths endlessly ever forward he could sense His main impression was only murky but full of strange rotations and symbols a map of Aether listing all of the fated possibilities

Out and out his attention stretched feeling the strange shape of their connection until his head began to pound and the sheer power of the possibilities became too much for him coughing Randidly came back to himself Mrs Hamilton was giving him an odd look but Randidly just shook his head Then after taking a steadying breath he turned his attention back inwards towards the Aether

He grasped the connection again but did not reach any further He just wanted to see the immediate options if Arbor was going to be so demanding But of course he didn’t know the details he just had a strange instinct for the ways these two Aether flows would change his plant

The first was a huge whirlpool spiraling ever closer ever more tightly the outsides gentle and slow but the inner circle viciously powerful The other was more like an ever branching stream flowing from the same source but parting and spreading outward its arms covering an area that was many times larger than the whirlpool

Although the whirlpool was clearly more powerful it was also more concentrated and the feeling that Aether gave Randidly was very different than the river The Whirlpool was anger and greed the river felt of generosity and sharing It was a river of life that a civilization could be based upon

Of course that really did very little to inform him of how this Aether change would affect Arbor but still

Randidly pressed superimposing that second image of how Aether should flow on the connection and watched as it slowly seeped inward altering their relationship

Sighing Randidly returned to himself

Mrs Hamilton yawned Finally ready to put in some work

Kiersty couldn’t contain her smug look but the grey children didn’t notice they were too busy staring slack jawed at the strange tree in front of them

It grew and stretched wiggling as if the only thing keeping it from being 20 feet tall was the small hole it was using to get out of the ground Its branches multiplied and several flaming leaves formed on the tree It settled in about as large as all of the trees are or were back in Donnyton being slightly taller than an adult

But somehow Kiersty knew that this tree had a lot more potential for growth

It grew just like that The vocal grey child asked her eyes wide

Well it doesn’t always grow so suddenly Kiersty allowed But it grows on our love slowly but always growing And I am its Priestess Kiersty You may call it Arbor

Decklan grimaced wiping blood off of his knife It was a worn thing now but it had been given to him by the Ghosthound and Decklan was sure that there was some secret still hidden in its depths But against these higher tiered enemies it was starting to reach the limits of its usefulness He needed another blade

They were stuck in a slightly awkward position right now Decklan and Devan’s squad were over here and were currently being used to mop up the raid parties led by the Raid Bosses’ lieutenants The locals were rather unwilling to let such useful and trained warriors go and so stood constantly guarding the portal

But of course this was only because Kith Klark was basically on their last legs and was only a step away from being wiped out Although their defenses hadn’t been breached most of their industry and food sources were slowly being ripped away by the stranglehold of the Raid Bosses Decklan couldn’t bring himself to hate the covert threat that the turtles and rabbits were using to keep them here

In addition 3 more factors weighed in the favor of them remaining and helping First the council wanted to maintain cordial relations and their continued presence gave them further insight to the strange situation that heralded their arrival Second the council wasn’t sure what would happen to the portal if the village fell

If the portal remained and suddenly Raid Bosses could appear inside of Donnyton at any moment

The third reason was Kiersty’s continued refusal to return which was surprising and an obstacle that Decklan had no idea how to handle Sure he could physically take her back but

The Ghosthound’s plants loved her even Thorn so Decklan was slightly leery of that option

Kiersty’s mother upon hearing the news wanted to come over and drag her back but Donnyton also didn’t want to send anymore people over in case things over on this side became serious As such they were at a weird impasse At the very least the experience was good

Which was increasingly important because after hitting Lvl 30 all of them Donny Dozer and Decklan had hit a wall in terms of leveling Experience was harder to get and you required more He had only today reached 32 and that was after battling against enemies whose level were in the high 20s for almost 14 hours straight It seemed like 30 would be something of a dividing line in the future and Decklan intended to be above that line Meanwhile less combat focused classes like Daniel and Ptolemy would probably have a much more difficult time

There were benefits to the stranglehold that the Raid Bosses had over the area They were not particularly friendly with each other and had clearly defined territories But they also were very stern about newly spawned Raid Bosses in the area and would group up and deal with any fresh arrivals unwilling to see anyone else rise to join their ranks For the same reason they didn’t launch a serious offensive apparently worried about being attacked by one of their own while they were distracted

There were currently 3 Tier I Raid Bosses and 1 Tier II active in the area and

A rumbling distracted Decklan from his thoughts He frowned because it was a rumbling he recognized from long experience in battle that was the noise hundreds of feet made when moving

He left his small burrow house and sought out the others Alana and Devan were already there grim faced and the rest of his squad was waiting for him Tera was wide eyed talking to Annie who was covered in dirt and blood but appeared unharmed

Did you cause this Decklan asked already knowing the answer

Annie winked back at him Well technically no It’s the Tier II raid boss that asshole who’s at fault If he would have just stood still for one more second

The Rabbits and Turtles were panicking groups of them hastily throwing on armor and moving up to their low walls Decklan quickly followed gazing out at the mass of monsters that was coming for the village

Quickly returning Decklan grimaced at Annie If that giant Ape Raid Boss was the culprit why are monsters from the other Raid Bosses attacking too

Annie pouted Because they are dead dummy I figured if I just killed all the Raid Bosses we could go back And I was so close That dumb neanderthal just has such thick fur how was I supposed to know that even an Empowered arrow would just annoy his throat

A roar rang out too close for Decklan’s comfort

Chapter 120

Randidly was distantly aware that Donnyton sent squads to help out their sister village which apparently was a thing but ultimately decided to ignore it He had his own work to deal with and they were adults It was no longer solely his job to defend the village And these opponents seemed to be on their level

Under Mrs Hamilton with Lyra’s occasional assistance the training continued to escalate His footwork drills came under increasing strain as Lyra used more and more mana birds moving in strange beautiful patterns to encircle him The weights he was forced to train with grew and grew

Afterwards he would have sometimes short sometimes long conversations with Lyra answering her one question a day for her assistance The longest day was of course when Lyra had wormed out his intimate relationship with Ace and Sydney and asked him how he had met Sydney

There was a short answer that they were born next to each other in the hospital on the same day and there was a longer answer that he hadn’t learned her name until his best friend Ace had brought this girl back to their apartment after a party and their eyes met both filled with recognition

Strangely as Randidly told this story he found he couldn’t stop and he told her about how the three of them had grown so close and how a shadow had come across Sydney’s life and it made him realize some things about his own life culminating in him breaking up with Tessa and walking home in the underground tunnel when the world changed

Lyra had simply nodded and walked away The next day she asked him what his favorite meal was and he answered honestly veal cutlet with spaetzle and red cabbage In the same manner she nodded again and the training continued

For the accuracy test with the hanging loops to thrust through the spinning speed increased Then he was no longer allowed to touch the hoop but had to thrust through it without disturbing its motion

The strange exercise with letters on the spinning poles grew more complicated as a second set of letters were scrawled on the sides of the pegs painted with a different color Sometimes he could use both but increasingly often he would need to use just one or need to alternate between the two Or Mrs Hamilton would make up an esoteric and pointless order for the colors and he would need to memorize that while calculating how he could move

Soon there were 4 colors and more often than not his movements led him into a dead end where he couldn’t move forward at all But eventually he could push through retrying his exercises By the end of the day he had managed to fit in everything Mrs Hamilton had planned barely and Randidly turned his focus to spells or to meditating on his Soul Skill

Around 2 AM he would then go to work with Sam slowly learning Engraving His skill improved gradually as he mastered or at least managed to achieve moderate success at controlling the flow of his mana through the needle He successfully completed one of each type of rune they had available slowly nearing 40% which Sam told him would be the line to become an uncommon quality item and therefore much more useful to the village

Still Randidly remained just a hair away from that line even after several repetitions

From dawn until Mrs Hamilton had prepared the day’s exercises Randidly went out by himself and created avatars of roots to practice the spear with Form by form detail by detail he carefully examined how the system guided him seeking to understand why those motions improved his skill with a spear and to improve on that

After two days Randidly was forced to make a more sophisticated root avatar so his grip and stance were more realistic so he could continue to refine his form A few days later Randidly had enough control and mental strength barely to manage two Avatar’s at once He pressed and pressed working tirelessly even in his rest hours After all there was no other way for him to follow his own path of strength

When he was called over to train he went slightly begrudgingly bitter and yet excited to see the impossible feats that Mrs Hamilton would set for him Although he hadn’t yet been physically unable to complete anything some had come very close And often he would fail and be forced to restart the exercise

At first these failures didn’t mean anything until one day when a new individual arrived at the scene a strange hunched over and wrinkled man who looked like a turtle For a long time while Randidly struggled through his exercises the man stood with Mrs Hamilton listening to her talking animatedly

He spoke infrequently but when he did Mrs Hamilton’s smile which Randidly had somewhat come to dread spread ever so slightly wider

Finally he completed the assigned task and after a brief water break walked over to the two individuals

This is Bert Mrs Hamilton introduced the man simply He is from Kith Klark Due to our assistance with a little pest problem earlier in the week he agreed to do one favor for our Village We have chosen to have him give you some guidance He is I am told an extremely accomplished fighter

Randidly felt it too there was something slippery about the turtle man as his eyes slowly blinked and glanced at him When he finally spoke what he said surprised Randidly greatly

You have created a skill for yourself

Randidly blinked then nodded

The turtle smiled and it was a small twisted thing and suddenly Randidly swayed slightly dizzy struck but a wave of battlelust from that old turtle But then it disappeared I will show you the exercises I used to develop the skill that made me the most powerful warrior in Kith Klark

So the old turtle did a strange scuttling dance waving for Randidly to join And under Mrs Hamilton’s approving grin he did There were three basic exercises each more strange and impossible than the last They involved squats and tiptoes and spins and rotations

After a single time through the first exercise Randidly stumbled almost falling on his face despite his high stats and his Grace skill He shook his head in wonder

Bert just grinned and completed his demonstration Luckily Mrs Hamilton’s training had familiarized Randidly with memorization so it was quite easy to follow the steps They weren’t complicated they were just designed to be impossible for legs to actually perform

Strength comes from the base Do these and your base will be strong Bert grunted turning back to Randidly But remember to form a skill most important is

Image Randidly whispered and Bert grinned at him and then turned and left

Mrs Hamilton stepped forward I have good news Not only did he provide that but he also had some suggestions as to how we can add some leg exercises to the other activities Oh and whenever you fail one of these training activities you will do Bert’s dance as a punishment before continuing

God I’m tired ’ Randidly thought eyes bright nodding seriously at Mrs Hamilton’s comment his posture one of barely controlled excitement

And although his body truly was approaching its limits he weirdly didn’t feel tired at all So he continued his feet carrying him further following his own path

Glendel closed his eyes and reached for his ghosts feeling their strange whispers all around him It had been almost 3 weeks since the portal to Kith Klark opened In the wake of Annie’s actions all of the monsters from the slain Raid Bosses in the area attacked Kith Klark with a vicious anger Donnyton decided to intervene sending their best squads over to help the defense

It was a long battle but one that resulted in the villages’ victory

More importantly it markedly improved relations between the villages and now people could travel freely between them After several profuse apologies the turtles actually led the way with lavish gifts of armor and crossbows some reparations for their previous shortsightedness Above all else the Turtles appeared to value martial prowess and had a great respect and reverence for the squads of Donnyton especially the numerals after their performance in the defense of Kith Klark

Meanwhile the Rabbits appeared more focused on cleverness and arts and took very quickly to coffee and alcohol two of Donnyton’s luxury exports All were glad when Razor’s grandma was to inebriated to remain conscious at the end of every day But unfortunately she leapt up again in the morning the alcohol burnt off by her vitality to start the process again

There was still the strange incident involving the attack against Razor but neither side wanted to bring up the issue so those who hadn’t forgotten simply filed it away for later As Kith Klark slowly regained use of the surrounding areas they provided Donnyton their own special wares Fish Honey and most importantly for some Spider Silk which they used to create beautifully soft clothes Even now some of the more intrepid farmers were trying to Cross Breed plants to create flowers for dyes

Like a zombie it looked like the fashion industry was determined to rise from the grave that the arrival of the system had placed it

During this time they learned a lot more about Kith Klark their world and culture their strange species and the practice of choosing who you wanted to be at 15 Most interesting about their choosing a breed was that even the system recognized it they were given a Soul Skill based on which they chose which gave them a stats advantage in the long run

1 on 1 it was likely that a Classer from Kith Klark was more powerful if they were at the same level But after weathering their tribulation and dealing with the Raid Bosses’ harassment Kith Klark had only around 150 Classers with about double that of NCCs Meanwhile with the influx of people from Franksburg and the slow trickle of people who wanted to find out what the light pillars and villages meant Donnyton now had around 1200 Classers and almost 8 000 members of the village

The Council finally found a group of decent architects and was currently designing plans for a larger city area if just for the market area that they needed what with traders from both Franksburg and Kith Klark

Franksburg had successfully weathered its own tribulation mostly due to a monstrous effort by Lucifer who apparently had to cut out the heart of the tribulation and eat it in order to prevent it from regenerating

Although their tribulation wasn’t particularly gifted in magic or illusions their tribulation was large and almost unkillable It took 3 days and almost 1000 lives but Franksburg made it And Lucifer for his actions earned the strangely specific class Avenger of Franksburg The Freedom Fighters were very tight lipped about the details but from the secrecy it was easy to see that it was a powerful class

Glendel breathed in and out again listening to the reports from his ghosts

Kiersty was finally released from the house arrest she had been placed under by her mother upon her return from Kith Klark and was dancing with several children and with most of the traders who came from Kith Klark

For whatever reason the Rabbits especially were fascinated with the tree especially the 20 ft tall original planting which was wreathed in flame most of the time due to its boughs being thick with leaves Although a leaf withered and fell every time someone used a skill there were currently 8 sproutings in Donnyton and 2 in Kith Klark and the rate of Arbor’s Blessing spawning had increased greatly So they came and danced enjoying the immaculately kept park that surrounded Arbor

Another ghost whispered distracting Glendel As it had been for the past weeks Tykes stood at the base of the mountain path gazing upwards but still unable to muster enough Willpower to walk up and approach Raina who went up there every morning to draw

Her drawings were actually very popular for portraits and scenery but especially for the changes that she recorded over time that demonstrated the rapid evolution Donnyton was experiencing Some painters involved in the design and construction of the new Donnyton had taken some of her sketches in order to make several great murals They had even interviewed Donny Sam and some of the original Classers getting an idea about how the valley originally looked almost 2 months ago

But of course the most popular items were the sketches of the Ghosthound These were always done in charcoal but there were several different varieties There was even one where he was cooking which made people dubious but when you looked at his eyes Raina had a gift for shading and in those eyes there was darkness rage intensity and more than anything concentration The scenes around him seemed to fade but those eyes remained the same And for that people wordlessly bought the drawings until most people had one such within their home

What was even more shocking to people was that this masked woman who they had thought of as a skilled drawer announced she would be performing a musical concert The whole town buzzed with excitement even Kith Klark’s population was curiously optimistic about this strange concert A sound system was imported from Franksburg in preparation

And ’ Glendel thought to himself It will happen tonight ’

Turning his attention away from Tykes’ lonesome figure Glendel followed his ghosts away from the forges past the areas where the Numeral X was being challenged by the Squad ranked 11th out towards the prairie area where he found the Ghosthound

For whatever reason this was Glendel’s favorite time to watch the Ghosthound the intense and driven man who made this town possible He stood still his hands casually wrapped around a spear three strange creatures made of roots near him Those root creatures each thrust out a spear and then after a small delay the Ghosthound himself followed

This continued almost endlessly every day but Glendel loved it Although his own power was incredible and growing daily when he looked at these strange root beings

It just felt like magic Real magic In a way that Glendel no matter how skilled he was could never match This was the level of the Ghosthound who had created this town and nurtured it to the 10 000 people city that it was approaching being

But eventually as it was his time to scout he turned his attention away flowing around Finding nothing more of note Glendel returned to himself

4 other things of note had happened in the past 3 weeks which could be divided into two groups First a pillar of light had appeared to their west signifying that another village had been founded without any assistance from the Ghosthound Not a day later two more appeared to the Northwest in a similar direction but apart from each other enough that they were clearly separate

After much debate Donnyton’s council had decided that they would wait to send scouts in that direction First because there was always the chance that the village would fall to its tribulation Making contact before they passed that might be pointless In addition there appeared to be a large area in the middle of their Zone where monsters between the levels of 28 and 35 roamed freely

It was one thing to defend a village from monsters of that level It was quite another to wander out into a landscape you knew nothing about and attempt to survive hounded by those monsters So they decided to wait

The second group of news was more happy First Sam proposed to Regina and she said yes

Then choosing to eschew social norms Annie announced to the world that she was pregnant

Both of these bits of news also created excitement for different reasons First because there was going to be a huge celebration and party for the former And the latter because basically no babies or toddlers had survived the arrival of the system This baby would be Donnyton’s first perhaps even the first of the whole Zone

Glendel heard Daniel ask Dozer wonderingly if he thought the baby would get any bonuses for being the firstborn into the world and was promptly punched in the gut

There was also a push by Regina and Mrs Hamilton to change their governing structure but talks had stalled in recent days as they attempted to figure out how exactly it would work In the meantime Donnyton itself just buckled down and prepared for the night’s concert

Daniel looked around the table So we are in agreement The Communications Array can be purchased

Everyone nodded and Daniel did so glad to finally have this He opened up his menu immediately afterwards and was gratified to finally see the Friends option was open Even more exciting was that it seemed there would be chat and parties available through this There was even a social tab that displayed all individuals that you had encountered in the past

Once the Communications Array had been purchased it was possible to purchase Communication Towers which effectively gave people within the area a minimap that displayed different locations of import allies and enemies

Daniel was practically drooling

There was a secret here Randidly knew He carefully watched the rotation of the energies inside himself seeking an answer to it The grass grew the rot came ballooning outward The fire came burning it all away leaving only ash

But then Randidly frowned He focused more pressing his will upon the image going closer to the ash Ash was

Ash was

He could see it glittering darkly on the ground Although all of the biological matter was burnt away leaving only carbon and trace elements

It seemed as though those trace elements were slowly building up With glittering eyes Randidly focused closer watching as the grass grew it rotted away into a bulging mass of filth and then was burned away

Rot couldn’t consume the ash and the grass didn’t grow off of the ash it grew out of the ground and water Instead the ash remained the refined little carbon bits from the burnt rot So as he watched

His Soul Skill was slowly spreading a layer of ash over this area where Aether dwelled Of hardened and refined carbon and other trace minerals But what was the point of that What could ash

Randidly opened his eyes their green iridescent and foreign Unless something could be planted in that ash Unless that bed of ash could nurture something

But then movement in the corner of his eyes distracted him He twisted sideways noticing strange sigils forming on the ground around him He stepped forward using Footwork of the Spear Phantom and the weeks of training paid off He practically teleported 3 meters forward out of the range of the sigils

Except when he looked back they were still there all around him as if they had followed him And just like that soundlessly the spell activated and Randidly disappeared

Dozer looked up frowning

Warning The Tier III Raid Boss has spawned Swiftly discover whether it spawned in the zone of you or your sister village and hunt it down The Village that earns the kill will be greatly rewarded All villages who survive the Tier III Raid Boss will receive a reward But be careful for just like you this Raid Boss has found its own path and wants to walk it to completion

Was it really that time already ’ He wondered But then he shook his head

No rest for the wicked The system was always throwing another monster in front of him that he needed to kill Why would it be any different now

In the distance Dozer heard the celebrations that had happened in the wake of Raina’s concert silence themselves quite quickly It seemed everyone understood their brief respite was over It was once more time to focus on survival

Tsk tsk a single notification and you are already so serious You already look like a father with that grumpy face Annie said yawning as she stretched arching her back provocatively in bed Dozer just grunted turning away before he could get distracted

You shouldn’t fight like that He said simply hoping she would listen to him just this once Annie was many wonderful things but obedient was not one of them

Well obviously I’ll get dressed first

No You know what I mean Dozer said turning back to her and frowning What if the baby

She stood and looked at him her eyes round and sad What about you Will you fight like that Knowing your death means

She trailed off and then just bit her lip Not provocatively just emotionally And for the first time since they had met Dozer saw fear in her eyes

And immediately after that he was hit with a wave of panic He was 20 And going to be a father And he had to fight monsters Teach other people to fight

It was strange how quickly his life had changed In the past Dozer would have gone out and hooked up with some random chick fucking her until his cum drowned out his worries But now he could only close his eyes

They really couldn’t back out now So he opened his eyes and tried to smile saying alright but be careful And stay near me

Annie nodded meekly and walked into his embrace her fingers going to the spot the spell from the Ghosthound had ripped a hole in his bicep as Dozer protected her They stood like that silent and still for several minutes until the summons from Glendel’s ghosts arrived

Then Annie flounced herself doing her best to lose contrite in his field of vision but his enhanced perception told Dozer she moved much more animatedly away from him He knew that she played it up around him but he also knew that she truly felt fear

Annie was not a simple woman Dozer thought as he hefted his huge club over his shoulder but she was his That’s all he needed

Chapter 121

Randidly fell to his knees coughing That was profoundly uncomfortable Before the system came to the world Randidly had considered himself a person with an iron stomach and rock solid inner ear he never had experienced motion sickness With the benefits afforded to him by his Vitality and Endurance he figured it was physically impossible

With the strange shaking feeling over Randidly finally gave into the nausea and vomited

That’s going to cost you extra A voice dryly said but Randidly’s stomach heaved again He cared very little who was talking next to him right now he needed very desperately to deal with the very real possibility that all of his organs had switched places