LoRG 1

Ha it is worth The fact he is still conscious is a good sign An amused voice sounded and even stricken by the sickness Randidly was able to wipe his mouth and look up

Shal

An hour later Randidly was wearing a set of robes given to him by Shal and following his master down a cobblestone path Shal was the same as Randidly remembered him a tall athletic man with a spear in his hand He had a third eye closed that was in the middle of his forehead and he had a blueish tint to his skin but otherwise he looked rather like a human

I waited hour after my missive was sent You did not respond but I did not worry The honor of the Phantom Spear Style of the Spearman School was at issue I knew you would understand Shal said with a calm voice striding ahead They had been walking for most of the previous hour moving as soon as Randidly had closed his mouth and seemed well enough to move

So you summoned me here Why Randidly asked slightly annoyed He had prepared himself for spending a month or two training with Mrs Hamilton pushing the limits of his skills in order to gain power It was already almost impossibly difficult to continue and every day found Randidly collapsed on the ground needing to rest before he could even brew a potion to recover but the improvement was definite His degree of control over his spear and footwork were miles ahead of what they had been when he had started

In addition his continued use of Root Manipulation Summon Pestilence and Circle of Flame had vastly increased the power of those spells Especially Root Manipulation Even more intimidating was his slowly growing ability to Flex his mana to create slightly more power in the spell And with his Intelligence nearing 100 a slight extra boost meant a lot

His time spent alone training his use of the spear also had another benefit he was greatly benefiting from this time in terms of getting a more vivid picture of what the spear could do Randidly somehow knew that if he used the first move of his created skill the Spear Advances Ash Trails the powerful image he had gained both from his Phantom Thrust training and also from the root avatar time would result in a drastically increased power and skill level

But now he had been pulled to somewhere interrupting that time

Still Randidly comforted himself at least Shal’s presence likely meant he would receive additional pointers on his spear work Perhaps now he could learn some more techniques to raise his skill even further

Shal simply chuckled I already say it is for the honor of our Style Come I’ll tell you more when we arrive

Miffed Randidly followed after Shal moving along the path through the forest They were winding along through a heavily forested area so much so that only the occasional sun beam could break through the foliage to illuminate the path Shal calmly strode forward apparently content to remain silent the entire way Randidly sighed accepting this outcome

This was the Nexus he assumed A real part of the Nexus And he would be damned if he didn’t gain some information while he was here

How did you summon me here Randidly asked

Shal waved a hand Once you are connected to the Nexus and have access to the friends list you may pay for the privilege to ascend to other worlds connected to the Nexus as long as those worlds aren’t in a Cohort below your own

So this isn’t the Nexus Randidly asked

Apparently his comment was so amusing that Shal turned to him and flashed a smile Ha No pupil this is not the Nexus The Nexus does not exist or at least if it does it is far beyond our ability to reach This is simply my homeworld which is a member of the 5th Cohort of the Nexus Now be still you will want to see this

They walked around a bend in the path and Randidly was shocked to discover that they were at the edge of a cliff To their left and right a sheer rock face dropped down to the crash of strange reddish water A rather dangerous seeming rope bridge led downwards connecting to dozens of other ropes until it resembled a strange spider web

But floating before them taking up most of the area below were boats hundreds and hundreds of boats They all flew sails of orange red yellow and light blue But only rarely were there blues popping out of the surrounding boats

The boats appeared to be tightly lashed together in places and bobbed up and down All around people came and went hopping from boat to boat Shal beckoned to Randidly

Come come we must hurry All will be explained in my quarters Welcome to Qtal the Floating City

After being rushed through a press of bodies as they swung down the ropes to the boat city and rushing across several wooden decks Randidly was led belowdecks on a small old looking boat An old man sitting on the boat spared them a glance as they went below but quickly closed his eyes once more appearing to be in meditation

When they reached the area Randidly was surprised to find that the boat was even bigger down here than he had thought It was a square 5 meter by 5 meter room The only problem in Randidly’s mind was the strange swaying of the location due to being on the water

Shal took his spear off his back turning to face Randidly Now first let us see how rusty you have become

Randidly almost rolled his eyes but obligingly removed his spear from his spatial ring It was not the weighted training spear nor was it simply a wooden pole Instead it was a simple thing of shaped bone made for him by Sam It did not have the weight or size of his previous spear but it was still the spear he was becoming most accustomed to

Shal’s eyes critically scanned the weapon then he nodded At least you have not been dirtying your hands with unnecessary trash A simple spear is best Come

But unlike Shal’s invitation Shal was the one who rushed forward spear raised Gritting his teeth Randidly started using Footwork of the Spear Phantom crossing the distance to Shal and shifting around to his side

Just as he was in position and planted his feet Randidly’s eyes widened Shal all but disappeared reappearing in a position ready to attack Randidly in his blindspot Almost instinctively he moved again dodging to the side

But again Shal was quicker appearing right where Randidly was attempting to move to thrusting towards him Gritting his teeth Randidly swept his spear up blocking the blow It was a close thing too because Shal’s attack was quick but not so quick it couldn’t be caught However when their spears crossed there was only one word to describe Shal’s attack

Heavy

Heavy like a blow from Dozer would be

Randidly spun to the side then activated Haste and Empower using Phantom Thrust But with just a slight body sway Shal was able to avoid the strike and before Randidly could react another thrust rumbled heavily towards him

Changing his grip on his spear Randidly switched to a Ghastly Slash bringing his spear down on the oncoming attack knocking it to the side But in that moment Shal stepped quickly forward twisting and raising his spear again more quickly than Randidly could believe

Randidly used Phantom Half Step directly backwards creating a small amount of distance but when he attempted to reset his stance he bumped into the back wall

Shal attacked viciously aiming for that small hesitation Randidly’s spear flashed forward to meet it and he was able to deflect it slightly Seeing his chance Randidly went for another Phantom Thrust but the ship swayed abruptly making the attack falter

Slightly pissed off Randidly used Footwork of the Spear Phantom and circled around to the side attempting to open up some more space for himself But again and again those heavy thrusts came smashing him back until he found himself cornered desperately lashing out to keep the blows from reaching him

Right when Randidly thought he was going to have to do something drastic to escape Shal stopped stepping backwards Hmph If nothing else you have earned yourself some callouses while you were lazing about Your grip is childish but firm And you have become passable at fleeing Congratulations Come sit we must speak of your mission

Feeling strangely disappointed that the fight hadn’t escalated Randidly moved to the space that Shal indicated After clearing his throat Shal began to speak

On my world you are known by two things Primarily your School which is important for distasteful reasons but most importantly by your Style We are of course the Spear Phantom Style of the Spearman School Our Style emphasized speed and control of distance In this regard you can be considered passably talented due to your skills and fleeing ability

Every 5 years a member of the youngest generation of each Style must accomplish one of many certain tasks in order to maintain the honor of the Style Only then will their Style remain upon the great list for their respective School in our case the Spearman School Shal grimaced Unfortunately the Schools have a very generous definition on who is counted and they use tools granted to them by the System in order to select You have been selected As the youngest in our Style you must accomplish these tasks Now you may ask questions

Randidly pondered for a second Although Shal was rather inconsiderate in how he had done this Randidly supposed he understood This was an important organization to Shal This goal had to be accomplished and only Randidly could do it How many Styles and Schools are there They all have to do these every 5 years

Shrugging Shal said There are as many Styles as there are stars 1000’s makes the Spearman School list every 5 year cycle As for schools there are 4 Spearman Spear Death and Heart

Filing away this information Randidly wondered what else he should be curious about Then his expression brightened If it has to be me there is no one else in our Style Are all Styles so small

No ours is very small The Spear Phantom who founded this Style was my father He has died Only you and I remain Other Styles possess hundreds of disciples at every generation And their disciples typically show more promise than you

Randidly didn’t take the insult to heart His main focus was magic anyway even if recently he had been working very hard to raise the skill of his spear And what are these tasks

Shal shrugged There are several challenges

Shal continued explaining the tasks They seemed focused on different aspects of ability with a spear like speed strength endurance etc but as Shal explained them he ended every explanation with the same sentence this trial is located in the Dungeon

Randidly raised his hands Shal I still don’t have a class Is there anything I can do outside of Dungeons

Blinking Shal looked at him for a long moment Then he spoke No class well that is an issue for another time The deadline is two months In that time there is only one task that can be accomplished without a class to place in the top 8 in the Spearman Northern Province Tournament But

He looked Randidly up and down With your current strength it is Impossible

Chapter 122

Randidly sat in a small side room slightly nauseous from the constant bobbing of the boat thinking very carefully about how he wanted to proceed

As a man Randidly was someone who always carefully returned favors to whom he owed debts He owed Shal a very large debt Shal had protected Randidly trained him taught him to use the spear helped him learn how to distribute stats and much much more Shal was the reason that he wasn’t still struggling in that small room in that first dungeon stuck there forever If he hadn’t come along would Randidly have been able to train up to the point her could survive there

For even if Randidly had managed to survive in the Dungeon it would have taken him a long long time to figure out the possible methods for leaving He would have wandered for quite a long time And without Shal’s strength it would have been almost impossible to escape that dungeon

There was a part of Randidly that wondered whether it wouldn’t have been better to have spent more time training in the time compression of the dungeon while he could take advantage of it But if he had stayed there too long and a Judgement descended

Shal’s interference accelerated things sure but they also focused him on more efficient skills Plus the Spear Phantom skills were the basis of his close combat

Randidly was very clear that Shal went easy on him in their brief spar refraining from even using his skills Even so the thrusts that Shal attacked with were impossibly powerful able to completely suppress one of Randidly’s strikes In addition as Shal stated the Spear Phantom Style focused on speed and controlling space aspects that Shal didn’t even need to leverage in order to defeat Randidly

When asked how powerful the competitors in the Tournament would be Shal informed him that there were 3 main categories Under Lvl 25 Under Lvl 50 and Under Lvl 100 As Randidly would be entering in the Under 25 they would not be nearly as strong as Shal But they would be strong enough to make Shal serious in a fight

Which was not a place where Randidly was now

And Qtal was a small city in the Northern Province There would be 1000s of Spear Users participating in the Regional Tournament fighting to gain experience against strong foes Even if Randidly were to somehow approach a level of skill that would make him a contender there was the very real chance that he would simply be ground down by the sheer number of fights that he would need to go through in order to reach the final 8 of the tournament

Shal opined that a conservative number of required wins would be 100 Across 100 fights one mistake would lead him to disappointing Shal’s expectations and allowing the Spear Phantom Style to fall from the list After all Shal had done for him

But Randidly frowned and shook his head It was pointless to think about now The real question was whether he would be willing to consider getting a class in order to assist Shal

On the one hand Randidly was rather satisfied with the level his skills had reached Not that he wouldn’t want more but he believed that his current strength was enough to earn him a high tiered class It might not be something like Sovereign of Ghosts that Glendel lucked into but it would certainly be a level higher than Knight or Brute

But on the other hand Randidly’s expression darkened The continued threat of Judgement certainly was a reason to avoid staying classless but with his Aether situation solved and the threat of Aether starvation a distant possibility it was the only the cold threat of the system pushing him towards getting a class

And Randidly really didn’t want to negotiate with anyone who could only resort to threats to get what they wanted

Still it would be a risk to refuse to take a class And in his heart Randidly believed he owed enough to Shal that he should consider the option

Ultimately though as he had always known in his heart that was not his path Perhaps if he failed in the tournament he would have time to revisit the class issue and try again but for now Randidly wanted to continue down this path of strength

Then Randidly laughed aloud because he realized that Shal was the one who had set him walking down this path in the first place The more he thought about it the more he believed that Shal wouldn’t even want him to make a decision he was uncomfortable with in order to assist him even if the honor of the Spear Phantom Style was at risk

Shal was the one who had taught him that all he could do is hold tight to his spear and advance pushing forward to the future

Chuckling Randidly brought up his status screen It was a long time coming this use of the PP and he was somewhat eager to see if he had gained a lot Unfortunately the screen came very slowly and flickered in and out of view causing Randidly to frown It seemed that the strange potion also interfered somehow with the display screens Which was slightly disturbing How was there a biological function related to the screens that something ingested could have an effect on the output

But Randidly let that train of thought drop likely pointless to dwell on it at this point Slowly flickeringly the Status screen came into focus and Randidly counted his gains His hands slowly balled into fists

First Randidly noticed that he had gained two skills Mana Engraving and Mental Fortitude The first was rather obvious from his work with Sam but the second made him slightly curious so he clicked on the description

Mental Fortitude Ability to handle mental strain caused by overexertion Ability to recover from mental tiredness increases with skill level Ability to utilize multiple spells at once increases with skill level

Nodding slowly Randidly figured this was probably related to him pushing much more aggressively on learning to control his Root Manipulation and Summon Pestilence It also seemed like he was 30% of the way through creating another skill based on the strange exercises given to him by the old turtle It was nice to see that it was actually working and that the turtle wasn’t just hiding somewhere laughing at him

With that problem solved Randidly turned to look at the amount of skill levels he had gained As he looked at the total next to PP he couldn’t help but grin

In order of increasing magnitude Randidly had gained 3 Skill Lvls in Manual Labor and Cooking 4 Lvls in Potion Making Refine Meditation and Mana Strengthening 5 Lvls in Circle of Flame Calculated Blow and Agony 6 Lvls in Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth 8 Skill Lvls in Mental Fortitude and Incendiary Bolt and 10 Lvls in Ghastly Slash and Fighting Proficiency

In addition Randidly also gained 13 Lvls in Haste Grace and Eyes of the Spear Phantom 14 Lvls in Summon Pestilence Empower and Mana Engraving 15 Lvls in Phantom Thrust and 16 Lvls in Physical Fitness

But to put the icing on the training cake he had gained 19 Lvls in Bacterial Regeneration 20 Lvls in Spear Mastery 21 Lvls in Spear Phantom’s Footwork and a monstrous 31 Lvls in Root Manipulation

Even so Randidly knew that he had gained something else too or rather it was something that he recognized that he had the strength and execution to push himself farther than he thought he could go and not just when his life was on the line He had the discipline to continue for weeks under than harsh environment reaching new heights

All in all his PP total read 282 Randidly quickly used 37 PP to finish off the Empower I path

Congratulations You have completed the Empower I Path The Strength in your body is ephemeral and you grow increasingly skilled in its manipulation Although the path here was desolate and without reward as you turn to regard the distance crossed behind you you cannot help but marvel on how far you have come Stamina +30 You have learned the skill Battle Intent Lvl 1

Battle Intent Your strength now flows slightly beyond the bounds of your body and is discernable by others Ability to gauge the strength of others of similar or lesser strength increases with skill level Ability to influence others with your battle intent increases with skill level Ability to resist the influence of other Intents increases with skill level Ability to slightly control how strong you seem increases with skill level

Randidly thought the skill seemed rather useless currently but it had potential Being able to influence was a rather general statement but anything helped especially in a tight battle And if it could be used to resist the influence of others

The one thing that gave him pause was the fact that it simply said you could resist other Intents without specifying Battle Intent So there were other Intents available

But he could experiment with that at another time For now Randidly looked at the paths available to him

Watcher 0/ Heretic V 0/ Oathbreaker 0/25 Initiate of Ash I 0/75 Path of Carnage I 0/ Fighting Proficiency I 0/80 Root Manipulation I 0/75 Advanced Phys Fitness 0/100 Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 0/50

Again if he wasn’t going to take a class he sure as hell wasn’t going to risk taking Heretic and somehow weirdly ending up with a class through it Watcher he had for a while but didn’t interest him because he already had Eyes of the Spear Phantom Oathbreaker was also one he had carried but he wasn’t sure he wanted whatever rewards an Oathbreaker would receive

Initiate of Ash definitely had some allure but Randidly still wanted to power up a little further before he took that path Which made him consider that he could ask Shal about Patrons and some more information in general about paths If they had some sort of database to inform young individuals which Patrons to choose and not choose it would make a lot of sense Over time there would probably be enough people who made it to the Apprentice path to unlock at least that much and give them an idea of which ones were the best choices based on bonuses and mortality rates

Path of Carnage was still intriguing but was likely a chain path of an unknown length Even though Randidly had over 250 PP left it might be better to put it into subjects that he knew would be beneficial to him taking advantage of the skills and stats in areas where he would use them more often

Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 Path was a terrible name but it was likely some bonus for traveling to a world in the 5th Cohort It was hard to tell whether this bonus would be a big one or a small one but it clearly was some sort of rite of passage or reward so Randidly would probably put points into it eventually But for now

Randidly turned to the options that really drew him Fighting Proficiency I Root Manipulation I and Advanced Phys Fitness With his 245 PP he would have enough to finish off 2 of them but not 3 Which meant he had to pick which two he wanted immediately

Although he believed that he would be focusing mostly on the spear in the future he couldn’t not use the Root Manipulation I Path even though it was counter intuitive After all most of his gains in the use of the spear wouldn’t have been possible without creating the root avatars and using them to check his form And based on the results it was incredibly useful

So the next 75 PP went into the Root Manipulation I path Every 5 Lvls he received 5 mana totalling a sizable 75 mana addition to his pool He also received the completion reward

Congratulations You have completed the Root Manipulation Path Your will moves and the roots follow Roots are the lifelines of plants and you tread freely upon them climbing ever higher on your path For the deeper among the roots you go the more paths stretch before you Root Manipulation has been changed to Root Control All skill levels have been retained

Branching Path You can see in the maze of roots a variety of roots like knives that sink slowly into its prey and syphon the life out of them You also see powerful roots that twist around enemies shrugging off resistance and performing the will of their master Towards which area will you head

If it was a choice between some sort of life sucking root and strong roots Randidly hesitated As strong as the life sucking would be as an effect he knew there would be a lot that needed to go his way in order to take advantage of such a thing Anyway fire was his offensive skill while roots would primarily be used defensively to pierce and bind

As you walk deeper down your path the roots around you grow large and ancient You feel their awareness as you wind your way slowly deeper down this path seeking their implacable strength They have given you their approval You have learned the skill Plantomancy Wisdom and Control +10

Root Control A more powerful version of Root Manipulation Your ability to change the size and shape of the roots has increased

Plantomancy Due to your insights into the ancient life giving roots you can create beings of roots to serve your will The variety and strength of the created plants will increase with skill level Mana costs will decrease with skill level

Seeing the notifications Randidly simply smiled

Chapter 123

But that wasn’t the end of it Randidly still had 170 PP remaining and two very viable paths remaining open to him

Between the two of them Fighting Proficiency had a slight edge because Randidly suspected that it would provide another active skill Meanwhile he suspected Advanced Physical Fitness would provide a passive skill but it would also likely be more generally useful

In his mind these two draws weighed rather evenly against each other making it difficult for Randidly to decide which he would rather use Plus they both were related to physical stats so he probably would get similar stats or stamina rewards from going through the path

Sighing Randidly got up and walked to the side of the room to a small water basin The wood planks underneath his bare feet swayed slowly keeping him on his toes but his high stats and Grace skill were enough to keep him firmly planted on the ground He picked up the basin and took a long drink considering

Well when there wasn’t an obvious option go with your gut

So Randidly picked Advanced Phys Fitness Path because it included the word Advanced in the title and this world placed a great emphasis on labels and tiers and also because it cost more PP which made him think that the rewards might be just a little higher than the other All and all he received 10 Endurance for this one one every 10 levels as well as the completion bonus

Congratulations You have completed the Advanced Phys Fitness Path This path is rocky and varied and the climb is steep but as you stand at the summit you feel the rich air filtering down through your lungs changing you But the path leads ever onward and this is only the beginning Vitality and Perception +5 You have gained the skill Second Wind Lvl 1

Second Wind When under 50% stamina you gain an extra stamina per minute per skill level

Chuckling Randidly dismissed the notification If he continued to stack regeneration passives he certainly was going to have a monstrous amount of staying power in fights The extra points in Vitality and Perception were a nice bonus But like he had suspected he had received a passive skill that was extremely useful It made him pleased that he had predicted the outcome

His final 70 PP he put into Fighting Proficiency I which brought it up to 70/80 Every 20 points he got 1 Str and 1 Agi giving him 3 each by the end

Slowly but surely Randidly began to sort through his gains Both Battle Intent and Second Wind were skills he couldn’t wait to raise in level to useful territory Plantomancy intrigued him but of all the skills it was the upgraded Root Control that Randidly was most interested in

Mostly due to its affinity with how he had been planning to create his skill based on the old turtles strange movements It was clear that these movements were designed to vastly strengthen the legs and core and the further you progressed the more that debilitating strain spread rendering your limbs trembling and weak

But as your body progressed your legs and core grew increasingly powerful and only that strange movement could provide the difficulty you needed to push it further Simultaneously in order to create the skill what was necessary was an image With his new skill he had that image powerful ancient implacable roots holding him up Roots so strong they could hold the entire world bringing life to the tree above them

In this case Randidly

With the aid of this new skill Randidly expected his ability to focus on this image to grow Hopefully the boost he got from spending the PP now as well as this forthcoming skill would be enough in order to stand a chance in this upcoming regional tournament

All in all Randidly earned +125 Stamina +90 Health +165 Mana +6 to all regenerations +10 Endurance +17 Vitality +5 Perception +8 Strength +8 Agility +10 Wisdom +28 Control and +15 Focus In addition Randidly had 22 free stats to distribute as he wished But before he made a decision on what he should do with those stats another notification caught his attention

Congratulations You have reached 100 in the Stat Control Due to this you have the option of starting down the Path of Control Would you like to do so

Randidly considered this If it triggered whenever you reached 100 it would seem that it wasn’t something that was easy to reach but it also wasn’t too difficult The reference to a path made it seem like something he would need to spend PP on but he couldn’t help but worry that he be taken off his current path

In addition he supposed he had a choice about whether or not to take the path If he didn’t would there be other triggers in the future asking if he wanted to take that path For the other stats If there were what would be the one that he would want

His focus was towards Control magic after all Other than that he would likely choose either Intelligence or Agility either for raw power or for speed But this was without any knowledge of what he would gain by making this choice Now that it was in front of him

Ultimately Control was likely his path Randidly decided Through his Spear Phantom’s Footwork through his roots controlling the opponent until he could finish them off with either his powerful fire magic or his spear skills All the rest was just durability and staying power which would allow him to hold out until his control took over

Randidly clicked yes

Congratulations You have chosen the Path of Control +1 Control per level In addition you have gained access to the Path of Control I 0/200 Do not fear this path because this is the path you have chosen But do not tarry for others race forth around you seeking their own path

Randidly grimaced A path worth 200 PP huh That was certainly a heavy burden But the text that went along with it certainly made it seem like an attractive option to finish A path that long was bound to have a powerful effect

What was more interesting was that it included a level bonus The one thing that Randidly couldn’t figure out though was whether it would be useful to Classers After all if they relied on leveling as their primary source of stats they would have already risen in levels and been unable to effectively utilize the bonus

Then Randidly remembered the feature that had gotten him into this dumb situation in the first place He opened up his friends list and sent a message to Daniel saying that he was alright but that he would need to be away for some time Then he explained the path access you received when your stats reached 100 and how it included a point per level bonus

Satisfied Randidly looked at his status screen

Health(/R per hour) 556/731 (+8) (301 (+12

Mana(/R per hour) 12/1044 (107 75)

Stam(/R per min) 601/898 (115 (+4

Vit 89 (+4)

End 52

Str 71 (+12)

Agi 93 (+12)

Perception 51

Resistance 33

Wisdom 56

Control 116

Focus 71

Skills (Soul Skill) Cycle of Rot and Ash Lvl 376

Combat Spear Mastery Lvl 79 Phantom Thrust Lvl 69 Spear Phantom’s Footwork Lvl 66 Eyes of the Spear Phantom Lvl 44 Phantom Half Step Lvl 18 Heavy Blow Lvl 30 Dagger Mastery Lvl 10 Iron Skin Lvl 27 Dodge Lvl 38 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 57 Block Lvl 33 Haste Lvl 43 Phantom Onslaught Lvl 16 Sweep Lvl 34 Spear Deflect Lvl 10 Empower Lvl 47 Calculated Blow Lvl 28 Roundhouse Kick Lvl 23 Edge of Decay Lvl 23 Ghastly Slash Lvl 17 Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth Lvl 10 Battle Intent Lvl 1

The 7 Kata of the Ashen Spear The Spear Advances Ash Trails Lvl 3

Spells Spearing Roots Lvl 14 Mana Bolt Lvl 28 Mana Shield Lvl 24 Root Control Lvl 61 Arcane Orb Lvl 22 Fireball Lvl 30 Magic Missile Lvl 4 Healing Palm Lvl 9 Pollen of the Rafflesia Lvl 17 Summon Pestilence Lvl 33 Mana Strengthening Lvl 18 Wall of Thorns Lvl 8 Soul Seed Lvl ® Agony Lvl 36 Inspiration ® Incinerating Bolt Lvl 14 Circle of Flame Lvl 13 Plantomancy Lvl 1

Crafting Potion Making Lvl 34 Farming Lvl 20 Plant Breeding Lvl 9 Mapmaker Lvl 7 Analyze Lvl 24 Refine Lvl 16 Extract Lvl 1 Mana Engraving Lvl 15

Auxiliary Physical Fitness Lvl 54 Meditation Lvl 39 Running Lvl 23 Sprinting Lvl 19 Sneak Lvl 23 Acid Resistance Lvl 22 Poison Resistance Lvl 16 Pain Resistance Lvl 20 First Aid Lvl 13 Equip Lvl 25 Pathfinding Lvl 18 Mental Strength Lvl 15 Curse Resistance Lvl 3 Fire Resistance Lvl 14 Sewing Lvl 11 Cutting Vegetables Lvl 2 Manual Labor Lvl 6 Digging Lvl 5 Cooking Lvl 19 Grace Lvl 28 Bacterial Regeneration Lvl 27 Superiority Lvl 3 Mental Fortitude Lvl 9

After all of the bonuses skill and stat he had experienced a huge amount of growth His skill levels were already this high obviously but it was still reassuring to see how much improvement he had achieved over the last few weeks And his new stats especially Mana and Stamina

After carefully examining his stats Randidly put 20 of his free stats in Resistance and then the final 2 in Reaction Now he finally had defensive stats at a level where there weren’t any glaring weaknesses at least for now And with his Agility Intelligence and Control at such high levels he would have very little difficulty holding off most enemies with his spells

Which made Randidly wonder whether he would be able to use spells in the upcoming tournament If he could not that would make things much more difficult But he suspected that it hadn’t been an issue after all not many people cultivated both Stamina and Mana like he did With their finite amount of skills they had to focus in one area with their paths for the biggest benefit

But that was for tomorrow Tomorrow he would get the chance to try out his new skills he would talk to Shal about this tournament and he would explore the strange floating city that he found himself For now

Randidly removed a leather bracer from his spatial ring and an Engraving Needle With his even more powerful Control Randidly hoped that he would finally be able to crack the 40% on the engraving Randidly suspected that if he did so something would happen

But before he did so he took an action that surprised himself The teleportal had interrupted his usual time of taking the black potion and so by the evening he had been able to sift through notifications although they were blurry and strange But now he drank the strange potion again watching the menus slowly faded away He didn’t want to lose this edge he had not taking notifications for granted but instead growing based on how he performed

After he took his usual sip Randidly looked at the potion oddly After all it still appeared full He had never had to refill it the entire time he had been provided it But he supposed it was better that way

Shrugging Randidly put away the potion and got to work

Chapter 124

You have chosen the tournament Excellent Let’s depart immediately Shal said with a wide smile

Eh Randidly said blinking I thought we had two months

Hmph can any trash who desires it walk in off the street for such a tournament No they must prove their worth Come come it will be but a small thing for a student of mine

And so Randidly was whisked off back to the deck level where that strange old man still sat peacefully ignoring their passage They crossed dozens and then hundred of boats passing brunches gay parties children training with spears but most of all they passed men and women sitting in meditation on their boats seemingly heedless to their passage But what struck Randidly most was that aside for some small daggers the only weapon that he saw from the people were spears Always spears

Shal does everyone on your world use a spear Randidly asked cautiously It wasn’t that he didn’t think that the spear offered advantages that no other weapon held The combination of power reach and speed was truly impressive But there would always be differences of opinion when it came to what weapons were best But here there didn’t seem to be a single other weapon

Obviously the Spearman was born here Shal said not bothering to explain further as they vaulted over the side of a boat onto another As the proceeded the type of boats that they were crossing quickly changed Where it was previously a sort of houseboats now they were on flatter barge type boats where small stalls were set up where they sold food or knickknacks But still they pressed deeper and the boats under them grew larger and longer until it didn’t even seem like they were on boats at all but walking on land

They only give away was the occasional falling in the pit of your stomach as a wave large enough to rock these boats reached them

Squeezing through a press of bodies Randidly realized that Shal was not the typical member from this planet They all seemed to possess a strange tint to their skin (red orange yellow and Randidly saw one young woman who was decidedly purple) and a third eye on their brow but Randidly did not see another with the blue tint that Shal had

They seemed to afford him some small measure of respect because of it too When they saw him they stepped to the side quickly moving back to where they were just in time to make Randidly’s passage more difficult No one seemed to care that his skin was human colored and that he only possessed two eyes however No one gave him a second glance

After walking for almost an hour they arrived at the largest boat Randidly had seen It towered over the surrounding boats and from it hung hundreds of thousands of streamers in different colors The banners were covered in a strange scrawl too strange hieroglyphics that Randidly couldn’t read but as he looked the words trembled and shifted swiftly becoming english

They were names he realized All of them names

Setting aside the strange feeling he got as the system compensated so easily for the language Randidly asked What is this place

The Gauntlet Shal stated proudly The largest gambling den in Qtal and in the surrounding area No one Style rules Qtal so the money grubbers have more influence Come you need to familiarize yourself tomorrow you shall fight

And Shal was off pushing people to the side Sighing Randidly followed They moved with and through the crowd climbing up the rather steep ramps to enter into the Gauntlet A man who looked like a doorman seemed to be collecting money from all who entered paled when he saw Shal bowing and scraping letting the two of them walk passed without paying All though many saw this no one commented which led Randidly to believed there was a secret about Shal that he was missing

But there wasn’t time to ask and Shal pulled him forward The inside was set up like a jail with a large thick tower at the center towards which Shal continued Randidly followed and when they arrived Shal began climbing the stairs They continued to climb until they reached the second floor from the top which was a lavishly decorated open area There was food in the center of the room and the outside seemed dedicated to seating

And without walls you could clearly see out from the central tower to the strange prison like area that formed the outside Shal stopped arms behind his back and Randidly walked to the edge In the prison cells opposite that surrounded this tower there were fights

Brutal and bloody fights And from his vantage Randidly could see dozens happening at the same time There were 10 levels The lower levels had more cells but they were smaller and more brutal On the 9th level where they stood there were much fewer the cells much larger more spacious As Randidly looked he realized that not all of the cells were fights Others appeared to be tasks where only one individual silently struggled But there was a strange intensity to it all

Randidly’s eyes narrowed These would not be easy opponents

Unfortunately Shal commented You are too late to climb in the normal manner The only remaining way to receive an invitation to the tournament in time is through the melee Look down

Randidly did so and saw that below him on the wooden ground there were 3 wooden platforms wide things built like a square stage He slowly walked around the inside of the tower and more and more came into view The entire circuit took quite some time as the tower was massive but there ended up being 20 such platforms

They allow a maximum of 3 people per platform All who remain on the platform at the end of the 2 hour period will receive an invitation If there are more than 3 they have 1 minute to bring that number down to 3 or they all will not receive invitations

His expression thoughtful Shal stepped up next to Randidly and clapped him on the back Do not worry All who participate in such a competition are latecomers and trash Even with your meagre skills you should be fine

Such a latecomer Randidly sighed

Besides Shal continued We shall have time today for some more pointed instruction Your form is sloppy and without inspiration It is like you forgot that the true weapon you have is the spear You try to do the work yourself but you are just a man with a spear The spear knows its business

Ah But first Shal said with a wide grin You must obtain your Tassle

A Tassle Randidly realized were those strange banners hanging from the Gauntlet It also seemed like they corresponded to the sails above the boats There was a sort of pride in one’s Tassle so when they showed up at the store the building constructed of bamboo with thick bolts of cloth everywhere they were greeted warmly

And when the attendant saw the color of Shal’s skin his eyes twitched and then he brought at an older man with a thick beard whose skins was a dusky green color

Welcome welcome The man said with a smile How may this one serve you on this day

My disciple shall enter the Gauntlet for the first time tomorrow He needs his first Tassle

Ah such a talented youth The man said but his gaze was greedily running over Shal’s skin I don’t suppose he has learned any of the core Skill Sets

Unfortunately not Shal said his expression turning stony He does not yet have a Skill Set

Oh I see All in good time I suppose Then sir please follow me you can choose from any of the middle tier colors

Randidly blinked speaking up I actually have one

Shal and the bearded man looked at him turning back from the area they were heading towards which was filled with red banners

Shal said nothing but the man smiled kindly Ah you have a basic skill set Unfortunately if it’s of common rarity you won’t be able to do better than

It’s runic Randidly said Then he added But I only know the first movement so I guess it isn’t complete

The two just looked at him Shal’s face had become inscrutable The man’s eyes were bulging

Then then He said finally managing to speak Let us proceed below for a test

The man led the way into a back room down the stairs passed several employees who were talking to each other in whispers and looking excitedly at Shal and Randidly Slightly bemused Randidly just followed

At the lower floor there was another room one with two women sitting in meditation This room was much larger than the one Shal was staying at It was about as large as a basketball court The bearded man hurried over to one and whispered in her ear and her eyes slowly opened her gaze focusing on Randidly

Shal stood next to Randidly gazing meaningfully at him

What Randidly finally asked

I Don’t know what to say I cannot decide So I shall wait until I see your move Then Shal shook his head ruefully Perhaps it is fate that you became my student We both attract far too much attention to ourselves

The woman stood and spoke I will receive your spear move to determine its strength Do not hold back your strength is not at the level that it can hurt me Come whenever you are prepared

Shal stepped back away standing next to the bearded man Randidly found himself standing there with the woman slowly leveling her spear at him waiting calmly After a brief hesitation he removed his bone spear from his ring It was slender and thin but it was a spear and Randidly felt like it fit very well in his hands

He lowered his own spear at the woman preparing

Chapter 125

Randidly hadn’t used this move in quite some time purposefully so as to take advantage of the notification free period to refine his image for this move Even now he could feel the icy hot violet Aether flowing through him making a strange symbol the symbol that was the skill that he had created

And as he thought and believed it changed slightly evolving shifting It was hard to tell whether this change had been a good one but it had been one he had been working on for several weeks

During that time Randidly had thrust his spear countless times It was a heavy repetition not to increase the quality of the thrust but so that his body knew intimately the motions required in a thrust A thrust was to advance to attack to proceed T thrust was to walk forward into battle It was a simple motion but it was the bread and butter of a spear using its strength its speed and its monstrous reach

To thrust was the first reaction of a spear To advance was the only option in some cases

As he stood there in that room in the bottom of the boat his bare feet on the planks underneath him the soft swaying of the waves making the entire structure rock Randidly focused on this searching inside of him for the perfect feeling of advancing That perfect thrust that he slowly grew closer to the longer he practiced

After he had finally settled on that feeling he did not stop there His move was one that required more than just a spear there was also the propulsion of fire that threw him forward Breathing slowly Randidly ran through everything he had learned practicing flexing his mana reaching for that feeling attempting to imbue it into that symbol of Aether inside of him Insidious addicting cold and deadly that energy pulsed burning his insides

But there was one more thing he needed for this image and it was a rather recent addition It was a phrase that Shal had just said to him earlier in the day that had stuck like a burr in his mind nagging at him

It is like you forgot that the true weapon you have is the spear You try to do the work yourself but you are just a man with a spear The spear knows its business

The spear knew its business huh

As he raised the spear in his hands Randidly relaxed his grip using just his fingertips to hold the spear Then he slid his hands into position learned over the long practice with the root avatars Then he steadied his grip and opened his eyes

In his mind he merged all of these concepts into one hold combining all those feelings he hung onto into the move the Aether in his chest roiling and burning

Stance grip mana flex explosion

Crack

Randidly felt the board beneath his starting position crack and splinter as he launched himself forward his whole body a blur Eyes of the Spear Phantom working as effectively as he could manage as the whole scene blurred

The speed he had gained was too much Randidly in the past had struggled with remaining calm as he screeched forward but this time he relaxed After all the spear knew its business

By the time all of these thoughts had flickered across his mind he had arrived at the woman and her spear blurred the blunt end rising to meet him As the spear curved towards him Randidly had a crazy idea

He activated Phantom Half Step teleporting himself backwards a small amount His momentum continued though and he ripped forward through the air his move creating only a brief moment’s delay

It was only a fraction of a second but the woman noticed it that strange unnatural movement Her eyes widened Her spear blurred even faster

Randidly sat up wincing His head was killing him As he looked around it took a few seconds for his vision to stop spinning and for the people around him to settle back into normal motion The bearded man was talking animatedly with his employees The two women were in quiet discussion with Shal in the corner

When they saw he had awoken they all turned to coolly regard him

Randidly had to suppress a grin This certainly was a lot different than the reception that he would have received in a similar situation back in Donnyton He hated people who fawned over him and were overawed by his presence Much better to deal with people like Shal who was practically glaring at him

Shal in fact was the one who spoke first You cheated He said simply and Randidly flushed In the heat of the battle he had forgotten that he was just testing the power of his created Skill Set He had been too lost in the move and reacted naturally when the instinct to use the skill had struck him

Be that as it may in terms of power that move was almost enough to overwhelm my counter even before he adjusted his position The woman said coolly

Shal crossed his arms This was unnecessary A mid tier color will suffice

And it is dishonorable He should wear badges of his strength with pride Shouldn’t you the son of a Spear Adept know that better than anyone else

Shal remained silent and the woman walked slowly over to Randidly Follow me I shall take you to our back room You may pick any color but Indigo or Violet for your Tassle It is the proof of your accomplishment It will draw attention to you but it will also bring to you the respect you have earned

Disciples from small Styles who receive such attention inevitably die Shal snorted but he followed them as they headed up back into the Tassle shop

Randidly was led deeper past the yellows the oranges the reds then the maroons and light blues into an area where there were pinks lilacs blues and seafoam greens For several minutes he slowly walked among the colors helplessly looking around Honestly he had no idea what he was looking for But they were both looking at him with such expectations it was hard to just pick something

Then he saw it

Folded neatly in the corner on the bottom shelf covered in dust was a green A dark green Randidly walked over and picked it up The fabric was rich and smooth and as Randidly unfolded the Tassle he realized that it glittered emerald in the sun It was rich and vibrant silky and fluid in his hands

Is this acceptable Randidly asked uncertainly The woman smiled and brought him a brush

Now bring it to the table and write your name

They spread the emerald Tassle on the table and Randidly looked at the brush in his hand with shock This was

Just like the Engraving Needle he could feel his mana tremble as he held it almost as if they were ready to flow down along the brush and into the Tassle There was no ink but Randidly knew that if he set the brush to the Tassle

More than that though he felt EVERYTHING tremble His health seemed prepared to slide out of him and onto the fabric and his stamina too Even a thin thread of Aether seemed to be flowing downwards to his fingers

Somewhat lost in the feeling Randidly lowered the brush to the fabric and smoothly wrote Randidly After several weeks although he wasn’t a master he had at least a pretty solid familiarity with how to pool the energy when the letters curved and be smooth and light when there were straight lines

But after finishing Randidly he realized that as he was using everything he had much more reserves to spare he had barely used ? of anything So this time as he slowly drew out the words Ghosthound on the Tassle he took his time carefully filling every stroke with energy Letting the health mana stamina and hint of Aether pool like an ocean beneath each letter Letting currents building and grow in the depths of his writing

Suddenly Randidly blinked looking at the words He had finished His hands were trembling and the darkness at the corners of his vision seemed to indicate his health was very low In addition his body felt raw and twitchy as if an electric current had run through him

But before him the word Randidly was spelled simply the writing serviceable and gold on the emerald background

But Ghosthound

Ghosthound was larger and looping filling the entire middle portion of the Tassle with graceful and imposing letters It felt like a challenge to the world a prideful statement of one’s own worth

Shal made a disgusting noise Ostentatious

The woman simply laughed

They left with the Tassle and a matching strip of cloth in the same emerald color which when they arrived back at their boat they hung from the mast As they did so everyone in the surrounding boats stilled and then looked up at the emerald cloth quietly It certainly stood out a lot amongst the orange red and yellow but there were blue and light green flags at least a few of them so why was green such a big deal

Even the silent old man who hadn’t reacted to their arrival shifted and looked up at the emerald streamer for a long second Then his gaze slid to Randidly

Chuckling the man said Seems my old boat is going to be lively these days Then he returned to his meditations a small smile on his face

Randidly had asked multiple times about the meaning of the colors but Shal had just ignored him stating that they would talk in the morning and left leaving Randidly to his own room and his own thoughts

To his surprise he checked his status screen to discover that he had gained 7 levels in the Spear Advances Ash Trails in that single use It seemed that either image was really that important or the fact that he was against that powerful spear woman had really boosted his experience He also received a level in Phantom Half Step

That PP was enough to get another tick up on his Soul Skill earning him +15 Stamina and +1 Agility and Strength

Struck by a sudden thought Randidly closed his eyes focusing his eyes inward turning his attention to that place in his chest where his Soul Skill spun slowly continually rotating around While he watched previously there were slow gradual changes in the cycle as he witnessed rot balloon up the biological matter only to have it burn to ash refining it slowly

But now Randidly checked within himself watching closely After a time he opened his eyes

Yes it was happening The use of PP sped up the process Peppering the soil were now small sand like grains of crystal holding a strange energy within them This was the energy refined from the continued cycle the pure minerals that could be used to enrich a certain growth

To his eyes they glowed emerald eerily similar to the shade he picked out for his Tassle earlier that day

Chapter 126

Randidly wasn’t sure exactly what to do yet with this information about the happenings of his Soul Skill but he filed it away Image was becoming increasingly important and without a strong image of what this would mean for his soul skill he didn’t want to push forward too far Instead he set those thoughts aside and turned to other topics

Namely his new skill Plantomancy In a way it reminded Randidly of his Soul Seed or at least a less versatile version Whereas Soul Seed would imitate any skill he used and grow into a plant based upon that Plantomancy seemed more like the plant version of Necromancy albeit poorly named Plus it likely didn’t require an Aether investment which was why Randidly had recently been so leery about creating another Soul Seed

Well the Aether problem but also that it was much harder to keep track of what was going into the Soul Seed without notifications And he had very much so lost himself in the training these past few weeks

Plus he didn’t really know what to do with Soul Seeds so Randidly didn’t want to commit to making any Although he assumed that there would be powerful benefits from having quite a few plant minions leveled to a powerful state and ready to go he was also unsure of how much help they would be

Thorn had certainly gotten big but as far as Randidly could tell he was a rather lazy plant that would skulk around following Decklan’s squad feeding on the scraps left by it Meanwhile Arbor was busy just gathering attention from the people of Donnyton cajoling them into dancing with it All in all it left Randidly quite exasperated these weren’t the plant minions that he wanted

But perhaps his Plantomancy would provide the answer Randidly desired So he focused on the spell in his mind letting the strange instinctual knowledge fill him He kept his eyes closed too so he could better feel the shape of the Aether that constituted the skill

It honestly did very little to help Randidly in terms of functionality The strange twists and turns of Aether that he sensed remained inscrutable But it did give him a familiarity with its shape the strange place it held in his body and the small trace of Aether that connected that skill to the pulsing spring of burning numb energy in Randidly’s chest It beat like a heart proving he was alive and the sigil that was Plantomancy glowed softly along with it

Randidly’s eyes snapped open his eyes sparkling Although it was certainly a long way off

he couldn’t help but notice that the sigils he had within him for skills seemed to be similar in construction to the runes he made with engraving

But Randidly supposed his level was too low in all respects to consider what that meant currently Instead he channeled mana and used the first Plantomancy formula that he sensed letting the mana move through him He made no effort to flex his mana and instead just cast the spell

It cost 100 mana and out of the wood of the planks that made up the floor of his room on the boat roots began to curl upwards But Randidly did not guide them but instead watched fascinated as the spell twisted them and wrapped them moving them around and through each other wrapping them tighter and tighter almost like a pretzel

The roots bulged and pulsed and on one of the front roots the front parted revealing two glowing specs of mana Eight gnarled legs twisted outward touching the wooden planks the connecting roots between it and the floor withering away to dust

Randidly looked down at his freshly summoned Root Spider bemused It looked back up at him perfectly still Although it was only the size of a dinner plate and made entirely of roots it was still quite fearsome in a disfigured sort of way It was also true there wasn’t a connection of Aether but a mana connection remained between them and Randidly used it to issue a simple command Leap

The thing jumped in a second twisting around midair to land on the ceiling Grinning Randidly had it jump around more before he noticed that the connection between them was slowly waning as it moved the mana he had used to animate it was being used up

Randidly summoned two more and began to experiment After around an hour he sat back

They weren’t going to be that useful in a fight but he could use them for other things The only offensive weapon that the Root Spiders possessed were slightly dull teeth formed of roots They appeared to also have access to a poison that was based upon his Pollen of the Rafflesia but Randidly suspected that although he wasn’t exactly sure how strong the people he would face would be they would be more than enough to endure his poison

But they could be used as scouts or at least as alarms He couldn’t see through their eyes but they would warn of movement and could give him a general impression of what was moving past them enough so that Randidly could discern who it was that was moving In addition they traveled very quickly with their powerful root legs and distance at least in terms of within the city

Not that he needed anything guarded currently but they were interesting for the future Especially after he discovered that flexing his mana while he created one took almost 1 5x as much mana but made them the size of a small dog If nothing else it would be pretty disorienting to have one use its powerful legs to throw itself down off the ceiling and smash into your head from above

Randidly took one last look at his status screen but realized that his experiments had earned him 2 Skill Lvls in Plantomancy which gave him enough PP to finish off Fighting Proficiency

Congratulations You have completed the Fighting Proficiency Path Your path walks through valleys of darkness where violence abounds With your head held high you advance Because although your fists become bloodied with violence it is only thus that your feet can continue to tread And the path leads ever onward towards the next mountain towards the next Haven Reaction and Willpower +5 You have gained the skill Struggle Lvl 1

Struggle Strain against your fate in fights refusing to give him Gives an extremely small passive boost to Willpower when you are faced with adversity Amount increases with skill level

Contrary to expectations Randidly received another passive skill from the other path It looked like one that was more ambiguous almost to the point of being useless Although Willpower was the stat that got Randidly where he was today due to Shal’s need it wasn’t particularly useful in a fight But still every little edge counted Especially when Willpower was one of the first stats that let him grow in this world

As he didn’t have anymore PP Randidly put off the decision in regards to his next path and instead focused on what he should do this night in preparation for the qualifying melee tomorrow

Randidly grimaced God he hated dealing with people And from what Shal said he would be forced to encounter quite a few people in order to make it through In the end he simply had to be on one of the platforms when the round ended But what if someone else came up onto the platform He didn’t necessarily have to fight him but if Randidly didn’t what if more people came up onto the platform If there were too many

Then Randidly shook his head Pointless to worry about strategy That wasn’t his strong suit Better to focus on his other preparations The obvious first choice was preparing consumable stores He had quite a few blue and red energy shards with him as well as 1 or 2 purple and green ones So he could create potions if he wished it

But there weren’t so many that he wouldn’t run out of he used them too quickly As such Randidly planned on simply waiting to make potions until he found a source of potion ingredients Still he was in a good spot for that Randidly suspected that since this was a world that had been with the system for a while there would be places to buy potion ingredients and even potions

It would be excellent if he could even obtain the higher tiered potion ingredients to try or found a recipe book for high level potions That way he could increase his potion skill

But purchasing those would take money Although it was possible that he could obtain some for winning this qualifier battle or that Shal would be willing to give him some cash neither of those options seemed like they would be sustainable in the long run And depending on how much the higher tiered potion ingredients cost

Better to have another plan to handle it himself He had some small amount of the Nexus currency from trading in dead monster bodies to the recycler but that had fallen by the wayside as Sam’s crew grew more skillful at extracting parts from the monsters Better to have a commodity that Randidly could produce that would earn him some extra cash

And to that end there was only one thing that fit the bill Engraving Almost reverently Randidly removed one of the bracers he had worked on last night from his interspatial ring

Novice’s Leather Bracer Lvl 15 Leather armor worked by a novice Vit +1 Health +8

Engraving of Dragonfly 42% Wearer of the armor moves slightly more quickly when moving with the wind Wearer gains Aspect of Dragonfly I

Aspect of Dragonfly Reaction +1 Agility +1

It was truthfully a small bonus The armor that it was on was rather worthless But Randidly suspected that if he went to a local armorer and offered to Engrave his armor for him improving the armor by these two stat points and the small effect Perhaps it would be pretty tempting It all depended on how common engraving was

Randidly held out some hope that it was rare based on the fact it was only obtained by Sam through his rare Soul Skill but sincerely doubted that it was unheard of After all the spear that Shal used had a strange fluid glimmer that reminded Randidly of Engraving although it was a tier higher than he could understand

But he hadn’t seen it anywhere else So Randidly checked the time gave himself several hours and removed a dozen leather bracers from his ring These were the last of his store given to him by Sam in order to practice It was one thing to offer a single option but if he could master all three

He had come close to 40% in the past with Bear but had barely broken 20% with Fish His best option was to focus on Bear for now get that up to snuff and then slowly bring Fish up too He glanced up sighing But he could only work on this for 2 hours After all if the battle was tomorrow Randidly wanted to practice with his spear and footwork in order to adjust to his body with the stat increases from yesterday

His Root Spider hung in the corner looking at him with ambivalence None of its master’s concerns reached it It was simply on orders to wait there until someone other than its master was to come into the room and then inform its master It was a simple life that thing lived

Chuckling Randidly lowered his needle to the leather and began to engrave

Chapter 127

The next morning Randidly walked out onto the deck raising his hand to shield the sun Above him his emerald tassle flapped in the wind the golden letters of his name catching the light and flashing in an eye catching manner

Randidly was chilled slightly when he noticed that all of the surrounding boats had detached the lines they had to their boat They had several feet of berth all around them where the strangely orange colored water splashed

What’s going on Randidly muttered to himself and he was extremely surprised when there was an answer

Heh you’ve certainly stirred up trouble for us

Randidly turned and found that the speaker was the old man still sitting cross legged meditating on the deck of the boat But as Randidly turned to him the speaker yawned and straightened standing up

Good thing too The old man added I was getting rather bored

Is there really something strange about the color I picked Randidly asked curious

The old man smiled It certainly wasn’t a smart choice Has Shal not told you Randidly shook his head and the old man chuckled

Ha obviously not That young one has his head stuck so far up the ass of his spear he cannot see Then come let me explain

It all goes back to the Spearman who had four disciples and was the one who slew the great Calamity that came in the wake of the system Afterwards the Spearman proceeded to ascend to the 4th Cohort looking in his righteous fury for the source of the system that brought such death and strife to his world But to protect the world he left his four disciples the founders of the four schools and ordered them to train our youth well for no matter what he found he had no doubt we would need more strength than simply his for what was to come

The old man flicked his hand and a gourd appeared within it from which he took a long swig looking around Then he sighed and continued to talk The strife between the four disciples is another tale Suffice to say that we followed the disciple who believed the path to power lay through training oneself until you lived up to the the potential inherent in a spear We train Spearman

The founder of our school used a tassle of a color that was named after him Byzantium A dark dark purple He became the master of 1000s of disciples but Styles slowly formed under him A Tassle is the representation of your Style and a Tassle needs color Byzantium also created the ranking system we still use At the top are Masters then Pontiffs the Adepts then Artisans Each is associated with certain shades

Of Byzantium’s disciples not all were talented These ranks helped organize them and tassle colors were slowly selected to distinguish which area you do or will belong to From those disciples and Styles 3 rose to the top Two men and a woman The two men competed fiercely but the woman preferred to train quietly Eventually Byzantium decreed the order of their strength First his own son who triumphed over the other man was given Violet Then the other man who was stubborn enough to rise up from a common background Indigo To the woman who did not compete he awarded Lilac

Time flowed onward and to our horror another Calamity descended but no longer did the Spearman remain to slay it instead all 4 schools held a tournament to select their best and brightest to meet the Calamity They held a tournament

At the end of it two heroes remained One from the Death School with a bone white tassle And a masked individual who claimed to be from the Spearman’s school whose tassle was emerald In the final battle the Spearman school was victorious But in the collision the mask of the man was destroyed And it was revealed that the contestant was that woman who had been given the lilac tassle It was the young woman who was the daughter of the Spearman

Solemnly she looked up at Byzantium and famously said I apologize but I will not fly your colors ’ Shaking his head Byzantium replied Slay this Calamity and you will have earned your own ’

Randidly was scratching his head slightly confused If this color was so important to their school then why But the old man’s next words stilled Randidly

Unfortunately she failed The woman disappeared but the Calamity rampaged for years and our world paid a dear price to slay it

For several long moments there was silence Then the old man continued to speak She was strong true But in the end she wasn’t strong enough Although he couldn’t discredit her completely Byzantium famously included Emerald in the list of colors available to Pontiffs the second highest tier of Spear users even though she was strongest in the world Only Violet Indigo and Lilac were chosen as colors available only to Masters That would be her eternal shame

Moving to the present you may choose your color in two ways One is based on your teacher Shal is an interesting case but he is approaching the Adept tier that is no doubt That should give you access to pale blues and below the yellows oranges and reds etc Or you can go based on your own potential The old man paused Possessing a Runic rarity Skill set before Lvl 25 qualifies as having the potential to become a Pontiff in your lifetime But the color emerald is not deemed honorable It is a source of shame for our entire School The color that failed the world For that you will be targeted

To make matters worse there is another reason to target you The old man said with a smile There is such a thing in our world as rainbow hunters’ They challenge and kill other spear users taking their tassle for their collection aiming for unique and vibrant colors to create a beautiful rainbow collection of tassles Although the Heart School has green tassles commonly they are across the world and difficult to encounter Due to that fact

my tassle is a hotly desired commodity by men who kill other men in order to decorate their mantle Randidly said slowly

The old man nodded

Once more silence descended on the boat For several seconds Randidly considered what the man had told him But again his thoughts were interrupted by the old man speaking

But it is a good thing I think To have pride and to choose your color boldly It is only the young who can make such foolish decisions because only they have the audacity to survive such idiocy

Randidly decided to take that comment as a compliment rather than an insult based on the absent smile on the man’s face and asked What’s your name

Divvit And as he said his name Divvit’s smile was wide and full

So Mr Divvit do I need to worry about people coming to challenge me

Divvit chuckled Well no because technically what will happen is they will challenge the location where your banner stands As it is my boat and as Shal is your master either of us can defend your honor and fight for you Since we are invincible you have nothing to fear

Randidly frowned Couldn’t they attack me while I was off the boat Then come take my tassle later

Luckily not Byzantium made it law that only a duel held under a hanging tassle will enable the winner to collect their spoils from the loser So if they want it they will come here Then Divvit frowned and added But if particularly conservative individuals are offended by the emerald choice they might just attack you whenever and dump your body into the sea But this is likely a small minority And it will take time for them to hear and have their hearts filled with fury over such a small thing as color Better focus on the qualifier for now

Randidly was silent for a moment Can I win this How strong will these opponents be

With a long penetrating glance Divvit looked Randidly up and down before finally saying based on what Shal has told me and what I’ve seen you are about as powerful as someone at Lvl 15 Although you seem to have gained some strength since the two of you sparred

Although there was an acknowledgement at the end Divvit’s word’s still chilled Randidly Lvl 15 A world that was a part of the system for a long time certainly had different standards when it came to strength They likely determined the best path of training the limits before Aether Starvation hit which Patrons to use and raised their warriors to surpass those limits

Most enemies there should be around your level or a little below Most of the disciples with any sort of talent have skipped this step anyway and already received an invitation to the tournament You should likely make it

Divvit’s sentence was a grim one but Randidly didn’t believe that it was really that worrisome Are spells allowed in the melee Are potions allowed

Divvit nodded slowly saying Well yes but most people choose to focus their stats and skills in the single area of the spear but there are those who choose to be both a spear user and a mage and Randidly grinned True he had been judged on his ability to use the spear and been found to only have the strength of someone at Lvl 15 But the Ghosthound was not simply a spear user When compared to his library of versatile spells honestly his spear moves were somewhat lacking

Randidly made a mental note to talk to Shal about spear training more Even if he had the advantage of spells this was a great chance to raise the level of his spear moves in combat with those near his skill level Any advice his master could give him would be important at such a juncture

Ah one final thing Randidly said Divvit quirked up his eyebrow curious

Do you know where I can find a cheap armorsmith

Chapter 128

Claptrap looked broodingly at the short choppy waves of orange water between his boat and the next The past several months had not gone as he had planned

He originally worked as a simple clerk in one of the larger merchant associations in the capital of the Northern Province Deardun content to stand in the sunlight filtering through the window daydreaming about the day that he would become an Artisan level Spearman

In his heart Claptrap always knew that was an almost impossible dream Not only did he possess no distinguishing qualities he also had a rather poor work ethic and the rate at which his spear skills improved was very swiftly outstripped by his peers He had no family who were particularly powerful and no ties to a powerful Style so Claptrap slowly slid sideways from the intense training as a spearman to the more realistic course of becoming a merchant who serviced spearman

There was an ember of bitterness in his chest but the idleness of the days and the warmth of the sun sustained him That was until he met Her the big Her with a capitol H Her name was Ciel and when she first walked into the door of the shop Claptrap worked at she smiled at him

The rest was history

Over the next 6 months a fire that Claptrap hadn’t known himself to possess drove him forward He rose from clerk to assistant manager then finally manager at that location Through copious research he became an expert in weapons and armor able to swiftly determine the value of any high class materials with just a glance

But regardless of the improvements in his life Claptrap knew that their two stations were still far far apart from each other Whereas Ciel could afford to purchase his wares as simple training garb due to the generous stipend given to her by her Style Claptrap could only struggle and smile in silence He had no way to bridge that gap of strength Ciel was the pampered successor to an influential style Claptrap might work for an influential merchant association but he was only a manager of one small store With that standing he could not even let her know how he felt

In his excitement Claptrap confessed his feelings to one of the fellow store managers He was met with laughter Only after a solid 20 minutes of knee slapping did the woman sober up and say Oh you were serious But she’s an actual spear user

So despite the warnings he received from basically everyone in his life Claptrap left the job track he was on which was quite stable but would take a while to come to fruition and moved out to Qtal where the competition required less starting capital and founded his own merchant association Of course referring to it as a merchant association was a little grand at this point It was just him and all the savings he had from his entire life and his parent’s lives as he was the only child of two individuals who had died in a dungeon

But things hadn’t turned out quite how Claptrap had planned Whereas in Deardun everyone sought out high quality armor there simply wasn’t the same amount of upper class money in Qtal Instead what they wanted was cheap and lasting armor that they could buy to protect their life and forget about All that knowledge that Claptrap had about rare materials processes and workmanship was worthless

Instead snarky smooth talking merchants extolled shit as gold and received the sales whereas Claptrap’s shop received less and less customers

But Claptrap perhaps foolishly refused to give in His goal was not to become some two bit con artist He still had some money remaining and his pride With these he would continue to struggle until his dream had truly crashed to the

Claptrap jumped surprised and turned to find a young man standing in the middle of his boat looking at Claptrap curiously Blushing furiously Claptrap stood and bowed slightly To think that he was so lost in his own self pity that he had missed a customer Hello sir how may this one help you today

The young man was strange with a pale pinkish skin that gave Claptrap no clue about his Style’s rank As Claptrap examined him more closely some of that self pity returned The clothes the man was wearing were quite rough well used leathers and furs The leathers appeared to have been worked by someone who had some idea what they were doing but they appeared to have gone through hell since They were crisscrossed with rips and tears

In addition the man’s feet were barefoot That cemented the sinking feeling in Claptrap’s chest

I’d like to make a trade The young man announced and produced 3 leather bracers

Inwardly Claptrap sighed but he was professional and walked forward with a smile Of course but I have to let you know that I very rarely buy wares from But the words caught in his mouth as Claptrap looked down at the bracers in front of him

Because there was Engraving on them In this backwoods town built on the water

Engraving of Dragonfly 52% Wearer of the armor moves slightly more quickly when moving with the wind Wearer gains Aspect of Dragonfly I

Novice’s Leather Bracer Lvl 17 Leather armor worked by a novice Vit +1 Health +13

Engraving of Bear 48% Wearer of the armor is resistant to slowing stunning or knockback effects Wearer gains Aspect of Bear I

Aspect of Bear I Endurance +1 Strength +1

Novice’s Leather Bracer Lvl 14 Leather armor worked by a novice Vit +1 Health +7

Engraving of Fish 40% Wearer has increased sensitivity to movement and hostility within a small area around themselves Wearer gains Aspect of Fish I

Aspect of Fish I Perception +1 Wisdom +1

These are just some examples of my work The young man remarked coolly clearly seeing Claptrap’s frazzled reaction I’m looking to set up a partnership with one of the armor dealers in the area Engraving their wares If you are interested we can discuss compensation

Claptrap’s eyes were bulging Although the Engraving in front of him was at a barely passable level and was of relatively simple runes it was still Engraving The Engraving Guilds were extremely secretive and selective and charged ridiculous prices to have their masters work on weapons and armor basically making sure only the most affluent had access to Engraving

In addition to the guild’s selectivity the average person had no interest in pursuing Engraving because it took so much investment to reach a level where there was a real tangible effect on the wearer Both Aspects I and II were things that people would be slightly interested in but the real power of runes became apparent when they cross the 80% threshold and the III level of the aspect was available

These were all far from that but with some time and training the Dragonfly Engraving could perhaps reach 60%

All of this flashed through Claptrap’s mind in a split second Common Engraving like this simply wasn’t on the market No one was doing it because it was basically impossible for an amateur to learn by himself how it worked and the guilds didn’t want to cheapen Engraving by providing this sort of service

So this young man was effectively offering Claptrap the opportunity to have a product that he would basically have a monopoly on especially around Qtal

Claptrap kept his face studiously casual Ah Engraving I see Well that is interesting I suppose I wouldn’t mind using some of my spare profits to invest in you What sort of deal were you thinking

The young man gave him a frank look then glanced around at Claptrap’s deserted shop Claptrap lifted his chin and studied the sky refusing to balk Finally the young man chuckled

well initially I would give these as a sample and a deposit In exchange you would give me additional pieces of armor for me to engrave for you as well as some of the expected profits so I can purchase some materials The man tilted his head to the side and Claptrap noticed for the first time how green the young man’s eyes were They were were a strange mixture of cat’s eye yellow and forest green

If we can agree on expected profits The man finished simply Claptrap smiled uncertainly but with a hint of hope Maybe this was exactly what he needed to turn his luck around

An hour later after the young man departed with some of his gold and a dozen steel bracers and chest plates Claptrap was more ghost than man Every time Claptrap thought they had agreed on a price that would be to his benefit the other man would ask some seemingly inane questions about the value of the armor or the leather or how much other things could be purchased with the value of such a piece of armor

The most chilling of those interactions was when the man looked coolly up from the initial meagre amount of cash that Claptrap had been willing to front him and had simply said I suppose with this I’ll be able to buy some blue energy crystals

Gritting his teeth Claptrap mumbled out that he must have miscounted and added 3 more silver coins to the pile This man’s intuition was absolutely uncanny How could he so accurately tell when Claptrap was trying to get the better of him

Finally that man left with a sigh as if the whole ordeal left him completely disappointed although they were able to come to an agreement in regards to price Seeing that disappointment there was a part of Claptrap that wanted to offer more but he managed to bind and gag that part of him

After all with the money that he had paid out to the man if he didn’t receive a decent return and rather quickly his business would soon be nearing the danger zone

Ah friend what do you call yourself When the many customers ask who the maker of those fine equipments is what should I tell them

The man shrugged his eyes flashing emerald as he turned away Just tell them it was The Ghosthound

Chapter 129

Randidly arrived back at Devvit’s boat now satisfied with the amount of potion materials that he had managed to obtain from the strange merchant

He honestly had no idea what the currency was worth and asked increasingly direct questions of the merchant called Claptrap but the merchant seemed too proud to answer but felt sorry for Randidly anyway and would offer him more as if as a substitute

Honestly it would have been more useful to just know how much they were worth but Randidly supposed he could be satisfied with just having more money

Shal was sitting on the boat waiting for him and as Randidly arrived his eyes slid open Ah good you have handled your affairs in case your idiocy kills you perhaps I was mistaken about your ability to think Are you prepared The melee begins shortly

Randidly hesitated He would have preferred an opportunity to brew some potions out of the ingredients he had but He supposed he already had enough for a single day Besides he hoped he wouldn’t be forced to go all out and could instead rely on his own passive regeneration skills which he suspected were rather rare This would put the skills under increased pressure and expedite growth

Based on Devvit’s explanation Randidly did have some confidence about being able to manage through this round so he simply nodded and followed Shal as they began the long winding walk back towards the strange colosseum area

If you survive Shal said striding forward ignoring the stares as he walked carrying Randidly’s tassle We shall have the opportunity to train again for a short time I must say your continued Vitality impresses me I had assumed you would have died without my guidance but fear not I shall rid you of all the bad habits you have developed No matter the cost

Then Shal laughed and Randidly had a sinking feeling in his stomach More than the melee he was about to be a part of

the prospect of the fanatical training of Shal was much more intimidating

All of the contestants and there were truly hundreds of them Randidly realized packed into the small area stood still eyes darting back and forth struggling to act casual as everyone came to terms with the fact that they would soon be competing against one another with their lives on the line

For his part Randidly was slightly bemused Being here in Qtal there was clearly a familiarity with death that wasn’t a part of his old world But it was also a world that had been part of the system for at least several generations As such monsters and dungeons had been pushed back far away from the places were civilization reigned supreme

Seeing the nervous glint in most of the eyes of those around him they had fought but they had never fought while stricken with the fear that they would die They had never lost all conscious thought other than the stubborn refusal to die

He had come a long way but Randidly still vividly remembered stumbling back into that safe room covered in acid knowing nothing but fear and the burning pain in his body It was still a chilling memory and a reminder of how unexpectedly your demise could arrive

As the time they waited continued to stretch onward Randidly considered whether to make a statement early But ultimately he didn’t want to deal with the hassle of the attention that would come with it Sure using Agony would probably debilitate most of the opponents around him but it would paint a large target on his back

Although Devvit seemed to think most of the opponents would only be so so that didn’t mean they all would be There was no need to seek those individuals out right now He would find them soon enough in the actual tournament where Randidly would have the benefit of at least another month of training with Shal

Shivering instinctively Randidly turned his focus elsewhere Just in time to see the large brass doors of their waiting room rumble slowly open Immediately everyone was on their feet spears drawn looking around warily

An attendant had explained the rules again earlier 10 Stages only 3 could pass per stage by standing on it at the end of 2 hours After 2 hours if there were more than 3 people on the stage there would be a 60 second overtime If there were not 3 people there at the end of 60 seconds all of those people would fail

And as soon as they passed through the door into the main arena area they would be considered participating and could be attacked at any point by their fellow spear users

Randidly was towards the middle of the group so he didn’t immediately move after the door opened But soon the people in front of him broke into a trot running out in the air and Randidly cautiously followed Very quickly he began to move running just a bit faster than those around him dodging and weaving and within a few seconds he had burst out through the door arriving at the huge arena

The ground was dirt and the walls rose around him covered in strange viewing cells But he kept his eyes on the ground He had no need to pay attention to the cells currently he simply needed to stay down here among the stages

Dozens of people were jogging around Randidly exchanging glances and it was actually one of the men near Randidly that made the first move stabbing towards Randidly’s back with his spear Almost as if this was a spark on oil several other small battles erupted around them as people attempted to sneak attack other competitors and were then sneak attacked themselves

Snorting Randidly drew his spear and knocked the initiator’s spear to the side and then delivered a roundhouse kick to the man’s chest It was easy to see from his movements that he wasn’t really that strong Randidly expected that most of the upper tiered Classers from Donnyton could have taken him in a battle

Using Empower Randidly added a burst of speed and got out of the group of infighting that had stalled out very near to the brass doors Most new entrants avoided the growing brawl but others charged proudly forward excited to test their mettle in battle It all seemed very strange to Randidly Defeating opponents at this time was almost pointless there were far too many people to make a dent in the number

So Randidly followed the growing streams of people that began running around the giant central building heading for other stages The stage immediately outside of the brass doors already had at least 10 people atop it and they were battling fiercely Randidly paused for a second examining them and turned away

Some of those people they even gave Randidly pause There were definitely opponents here that would give Randidly trouble Their speed and the way they used their spears were imaginative and the fact he could notice these things in just a cursory examination proved that they definitely possessed talent There were even a few individuals that used spells producing spears of earth from the ground to attack other contestants He made a note to avoid them but another part of him began to burn wanting to join the foolish rush seeking a challenge

In addition to obtaining the qualification to go on to the actual tournament Randidly also wanted to test himself here But he forced that instinct to take a back seat for now The battle was 2 hours long there was no need to seek out trouble so quickly Besides things were descending into madness around him as more and more fights broke out by the area around the first couple stages

As Randidly glanced to the side he noticed two contestants separate and slowly catch up to him one coming up on each side He sighed inwardly but made no move to attack them He was already tired of this type of activity

And just like he had predicted they attacked him both launching themselves forward spears darting towards his ribs with a grace that surprised Randidly The speed was almost too much for him to take

But because he knew the attack was probably coming he activated Empower and Haste funneling powering into Footwork of the Spear Phantom With two steps he avoided their blows and appeared behind the first opponent sending a Roundhouse Kick at his back Strangely that man swiveled avoiding the blow and slammed the butt of his spear into Randidly’s surprised face

Grunting Randidly stumbled backwards as the two rushed towards him

Don’t underestimate me The one that Randidly had attempted to kick yelled furiously and Randidly felt an old familiar spark of anger rise within him hungry and vicious He had originally been running without his spear out in order to attract less attention but it appeared that had backfired These people held too much fucking focus on the spear

So Randidly produced his slender spear and immediately stepped with Spear Phantom’s Footwork appearing between the two They responded well raising their spears but the nearest one was no match for the speed of Phantom Thrust It ripped off half of his neck and he fell gurgling to the ground

Roaring the other charged forward but Randidly used a Mana Strengthened Sweep to pick him up and throw him high into the air Due to the angle Randidly had the man spun wildly too and couldn’t regain his composure before he smashed into the ground with a sickening crack Around them other contestants just swerved slightly avoiding the battle but eyeing Randidly with glittering eyes that made him even more annoyed

Stomping over to the man whose throat he ripped out Randidly glared down at him Fine you want to die Wish granted idiot

The man laughed but it really just sounded like more gurgling and said something that incensed Randidly even further Better to die holding a spear than to hide and never advance towards my destiny

In a very anticlimactic way the man’s eyes dulled and his head fell back Extremely human seeming crimson blood flowed out spreading slowly out around the man’s body Randidly spared a glance for the other man who was struggling to move and seemed to be doing nothing other than mewing weakly

Although Randidly had killed many things since the system had come to Earth and watched many more creatures including humans die this moment would stay with him for a long time Part of it was the almost glee with which these people ran towards their fate Part of it was the acknowledgment that his power was legitimate even here at least at this level

Part of it was how red the blood was staining the ground and as the blood drained into the ground Randidly had an abrupt vision of thousands of people coming here to die their blood flowing outward and down through the boats beneath them slowly reaching the water So much blood that the water in the surrounding area would slowly become stained orange an eternal testament to the dried iron pumping out of dying bodies

Randidly didn’t know if this was accurate but the image helped him understand the people of this world and a lot of the things that Shal and Devvit said in passing clicked together in his mind Here following the path of the Spearman towards mastery of the spear and personal power was everything If Randidly wanted to succeed here and bring honor to Shal’s style in order to repay him for all that he had done

There was only one way To display power

His eyes burning with anger Randidly walked forward leaving the other man to die on his own Fine he would smash these idiots apart and teach them to value their own lives

Or they would die fools by his spear Randidly couldn’t care less at this point

Chapter 130

The grand melee was an event that almost all of Qtal came out for and Claptrap was no exception The administrators of the event opened up the general challenge cells and cleared them out so those without the money or status to make it to the central viewing tower could view by running around through the cells

As per the usual the merchants moved as a band heading towards the highest and largest of the cells creating a tightly packed Special Market where each of the merchants brought their most prized wares sold at special prices to those individuals who came up to their shops

For Claptrap’s part he brought several finely made pieces of armor as well as the 3 bracers engraved by the Ghosthound If he could make a sale of these today

Ah Claps my boy you came too Hohoho tis a good thing our stands are so far apart otherwise I would worry about you stealing some of my customers with your big city acumen

His face red Claptrap turned to face the speaker an extremely fat merchant with a well oiled beard who styled himself Uncle Izzie ’ The space behind Uncle Izzie was filled with a varied spread where every item of armor appeared to be a precious treasure that would be the valued possession of the current master of a Style It was infuriating because Uncle Izzie was Claptrap’s main competition and Claptrap hadn’t been able to best him in a single category since he had come to Qtal

Mr Izzat it’s good to see you are doing so well Claptrap said woodenly

Izzat’s eyes narrowed but his smile remained stubbornly in place Hohoho no need to be so formal call me Uncle Izzie everyone does Are your servants coming later bringing your wares Why is it that you only have a small satchel at your side

Claptrap bit his lip One of the things that annoyed him about Izzat is that he insisted on never using an interspatial ring to store his wares but instead paid servants to physically carry around the armor in boxes in a show of wealth The amount of spare coin the man had was maddening

Embarrassed Claptrap turned away leaving Izzat to chuckle at his retreating back

When Claptrap arrived at his space his heart sank further Although he had reserved it so far in advance why was it so small It was the size of a child’s desk and would basically would have enough room for him to display 5 or so pieces of armor with him hunching behind them Worst of all both of the stands on either side of him were large and splendid covered in fine red table clothes and Tassle streamers of varying colors indicating the high support that they had from their customers

Claptrap made a mental note to ask the Ghosthound for a tassle streamer of his just to have something to display It didn’t even matter if it was red it was better to have something than nothing

So Claptrap slowly removed a high quality ivory helmet greaves that sparkled with gold inlay but in fact were not weakened by the use of the metal and the Ghosthound’s 3 low quality dirty and beaten leather bracers and tried to keep a smile on his face for the meandering customers

It was going to be a long day

Hello Shal

Shal’s gaze slid sideways from his student who finally became serious about the competition and killed two bottom feeders to find one of the people he detested most in the world

Egger He grunted his gaze returning to the window The less he was forced to interact with this pompous prick the better

I am surprised Who knew that you would have the delicacy to train a disciple I suppose even violence obsessed idiots have their moments Egger said stepping closer to Shal so they were side by side as they looked out the window I have 20 trained and tested disciples in this farce I have given them explicit instructions that they are to have one of them on each of the stages We will see whether your disciple will even be able to survive long enough for his Tassle to unfurl

And this was why Shal detested Egger For as children they had been rivals in Egger’s eyes until Shal summarily trounced him Since then Egger had bootlicked his way into one of the larger Styles and had become a rather well respected instructor for new disciples even if he was still a mediocre spear user At every opportunity Egger took the opportunity to lord his training accomplishments over Shal which was received with stony silence

After all previously there wasn’t really any competition But now Shal had a disciple recognized by the world although most of the world hadn’t realized it yet there was another Spear Phantom in training

Normally Shal would ignore him because your ability to train a disciple was secondary to individual strength But there was another truth here that Shal didn’t want to endanger

Shal had never lost to Egger in anything

So despite his distaste Shal spoke directly On this day a Tassle of your Iron Spear Style will be taken by the Spear Phantom Style I will wager

Shal paused considering his opponents financial straights Then he removed an old spear from his ring a huge almost 3 meter long monstrosity that had been forged of obsidian It glittered black in the darkness a huge hunk of black metal the Spear of the Devourer

Egger’s eyes paled and Shal experienced a certain satisfaction All had wondered how Shal’s duel with the Devourer had gone but Shal refused to speak of it But the fact that he had the Devourer’s spear could only mean one thing

Shal enjoyed the expression on Egger’s face as he did some quick calculations over the worth of such a spear and the fear and panic in Egger’s eyes when he realized what a large bet it was But strangely his face stilled and he smiled alright I will bet this hunk of DragonHeart ore as well as a bit of information

Sneering Shal opened his mouth to deride Egger not even wanting to hear the information Although the ore was valuable it was nowhere near as valuable as the spear of the Devourer But Egger continued speaking and Shal froze

I’ll tell you the location of Lucrecia

Shal blinked Then his eyes darkened It is a deal He hissed through his teeth turning back to the melee with fiery eyes

Randidly ran forward passing stage after stage his brooding eyes taking in the vicious struggles going on at each location where more and more people with ideas like his would break off swarming to the lesser populated stages that they would find for themselves hoping to see how well they would stack up against the competition But Randidly continued to jog

Not to restore his condition because he had almost instantly regained the Stamina he had lost in his little fight But because the heat in his chest was slowly cooling to a bubbling anger preparing to blow up again But at the moment he was unsatisfied by the large crowds he ran into

Still time was beginning to drag on Such was the size of the location that he had been jogging for almost 20 minutes and still hadn’t reached the opposite side of the arena It was simply too large more a small island than a boat Although there was already a large cluster of people gathered around the current stage that Randidly was approaching he was sorely tempted to stop and set up shop here

But again that flicker of rage made him grind his teeth and in order to avoid killing all of these spear users Randidly continued to run As he did so he noticed that a slim young woman with spiky red hair was shadowing him not coming too close but also clearly following the same path as him at the same speed

Again his temper flared but again Randidly pushed it down It wasn’t yet clear what this woman’s intentions were But if she planned some sort of vengeance for the two people Randidly had killed

Shaking his head Randidly put that out of his mind This world was different Perhaps killing was just killing here and wouldn’t lead to an endless cycle of revenge

Besides the young woman wasn’t really looking at him with any sort of malice But it was a strange deliberate intensity to her gaze that set him on edge It was strange to him why she would look at him like this when they had never met in the past Perhaps some relationship with Shal

The distance she maintained was enough that Randidly didn’t really have any plans to turn and attack her It would be a waste of time and there were so many other spear users lurking around It was best to just ignore her for now

A few minutes later Randidly arrived at the next stage which was strangely quiet There were fewer people here but also there was only a single man on the stage surrounded by around a dozen bodies The blood was already dried and the crowd around them was milling about looking at each other nervously

But perhaps the most eye catching thing about the stage is that the man standing on the stage was the two spears he held one in each hand both wet with blood His grip was casual his gaze bored scanning the crowd with open disdain

The raw arrogance in his slouched stance ignited the rage in Randidly’s heart even further His hands tightened around his spear Ignoring the dead bodies surrounding the strange man Randidly picked up speed as he ran forward Almost instinctively he activated Haste gaining speed When he reached the edge of the crowd he allowed his rage to just carry him forward activating Mana Strengthening and leaping clearing the nervous group of spear users and sailing through the air

In a rather ungainly fashion he crashed onto the stage sliding slightly on a patch of blood that was still wet But with the assistance of the Grace skill Randidly stabilized himself very quickly then turned to regard the man He had long hair cascading down his back and over his shoulders As Randidly arrived his eyes had narrowed and now he was looking at him with a sneer His skin was a yellow very close to lime green a bright vibrant color that almost made the man look like a clown to Randidly’s eyes

Are you a fool I am a disciple of the Thundercrash Style Leave or your corpse will fertilize rice The man demanded his eyes flashing

Randidly just grinned leveling his spear at his opponent

With a snort the man waved his hand and a strange energy surged through the air smashing towards Randidly When it reached him Randidly blinked and swayed It was like 1000s of ghost spears were surging towards him each with the speed and ferocity of a lightning bolt But Randidly simply frowned and focused and the strange spiritual attack warped and shattered cracking like glass

For a time there was silence as the man’s expression changed from derision to contemplative Randidly tightened his grip on his spear his heart beginning to beat with an increased intensity Finally a spear user near his own level The chance to see how well he stacks up against individuals from a world of the 5th Cohort of the Nexus

You who are you The man asked slowly

They call me the Ghosthound

I am Tartet It would be a great joy to kill you this day Ghost

I’m Dian

Both Randidly and Tartet turned rather confused Randidly’s eyes narrowed It was that woman with pointy red hair Most annoyingly she seemed content to produce a pallet from her interspatial ring lounging on the stage in the corner As the two men continued to stare she straightened and frowned at them

I’ll just take the winner It wouldn’t be fair to fight 3 at a time 2 people would just gang up and kill the third

Chapter 131

Several seconds passed What was most annoying was that in that same time the crowd appeared to regain some of its confidence perhaps boosted by the rather strange turn of events on stage Several spear users edged towards the stage perhaps preparing to ascend joining the increasing number of people on stage

But Dian flicked her hand and fresh wet and red wounds sprouted from two nearby individual’s necks The nearby spear users once more scrambled backwards shocked by the strange turn of events and Dian nodded seriously I’ll keep the trash away May your battle be long and honorable

Tartet and Randidly turned to one another both frowning but

As Randidly looked at that lemon skinned idiot it was hard not to feel his hackles rise In the same way Tartet began to sneer as his eyes ran over Randidly’s worn leathers and his bare feet Perhaps there was a smarter way to handle the situation but both looked at the other and saw a person unworthy of respect They could not both remain on the stage allowing the other to persist

They would need to fight to demonstrate their own worth in their mind And both knew that the other was thinking along almost the same lines but it did not matter It was better this way There was an answer they would only find after crossing spears and both were determined to find the answer they wanted

Randidly moved first his grip on his spear tight rushing towards his opponent But although Randidly moved first Tartet was the one who seemed to arrive to first bursting into a flurry of motion both spears ripping forward in vicious stabs Gritting his teeth Randidly unleashed a Phantom Onslaught barely able to keep up with the amount of blows that the opposing spear user unleashed

Although Tartet’s attacks were stronger Randidly’s were faster and more unpredictable slashing upwards at weird angles deflecting the strangely vicious strikes of his opponent But Randidly was forced to use Phantom Onslaught again and again his stamina rapidly draining down And from the bright fire in Tartet’s eyes it did not seem like he was depleting his stamina at the speed Randidly was

The other had an advantage and it was slowly pushing Randidly backwards No longer did he have any attention to spare for Dian or the surrounding contestants there was only this man in front of him who was infuriatingly competent with his spear

But this didn’t discourage Randidly Instead it only made him want to be able to triumph even more In his chest he felt the stirrings of that frost and lava energy spreading its tendrils through his limbs Although he could feel weariness building up it was nothing compared to the helplessness and fear that Randidly had started with those months ago

Compared to the fear of death this was nothing He had trained for several weeks preparing for just this His spear strikes were accurate and tireless intercepting and deflecting constantly struggling against the other’s overwhelming power

Although his breathing was heavy inwardly Randidly was calm as he unleashed another Phantom Onslaught focusing all of his will on the image he had of the move It was unpredictable endless eternal unavoidable It flooded towards you unstoppable Part of the image was based on the very mental attack that Tartet had used on Randidly But it was an accurate picture of what Randidly wanted Those endless howling spears

It was a small thing but Randidly felt his spear attacks during the move becoming more ephemeral and numerous seeming to come from every direction

To Randidly’s shock Tartet just growled and his spears began to hum and vibrate Then he launched his attacks the spears blurring and unpredictable but also extremely powerful so much so that the entirety of Phantom Onslaught was blown away

Luckily it seemed that the unpredictability cut both ways although there was a split second where Randidly was defenseless Tartet couldn’t manage to change the path of his attacks and the strange vibrating thrusts ripped across his ribs and shoulders inflicting small wounds but failing to fatally wound Randidly

Hissing out through his teeth Randidly relied on Spear Phantom’s Footwork to spin around Tartet creating some distance His opponent’s reaction was quick the other spun around and rushed forward the spears wildly swinging

His mouth firming into a line Randidly planted his feet lowered himself into one of the strange stances taught to him by the old turtle activated Haste Empower and Mana Strengthening and used Sweep his spear whipping around to crash against one of the weird vibrating attack

The power of those blows was evenly matched or even a little in Tartet’s favor but the momentum of his attack had been stopped Or at least that spear had been

While Randidly was stumbling shaken and almost unable to grip his spear due to the aftershocks of the collision Tartet’s other spear ripped forward aiming for his heart For once the strange unpredictability seemed to go Tartet’s way But Randidly simply stepped backwards creating space Tartet leaped forward following

Again Randidly hissed and sidestepped with Spear Phantom’s footwork avoiding the blow but Tartet just spun his eyes burning barely losing any time before leaping after Randidly There was something about him Randidly realized A strangeness a pervasive feel to the air A hunger His spear well spears were hungry and that feeling infused the entirety of his movements

Randidly’s eyes narrowed This was

A skill set A complete one one that was accompanied by a very powerful image Its effect was obvious so much so that even he could recognize it relatively quickly For a moment Randidly considered using a spell but then he pushed that down his mouth quirking up into a grin He would not be able to live with himself if he was walking upon this path only to willingly leave it

Then let’s see which of our images can carry us farther Randidly whispered his feet moving in a strange profound way Of all the things Shal had seen of his he had only received a compliment on one of them that in terms of running away he could be considered to have talent This was the Spear Phantom the warrior who could perfectly control his positioning in battle

Randidly moved to the side and Tartet followed roaring and accelerating Again Randidly slid out of the way and Tartet was forced to twist and leap in a new direction But Randidly was already dodging moving out of the path of those wild spears Now Tartet was roaring aloud his eyes scrunched and furious

They twisted and turned one constantly following the other their speed slowly increasing Strangely Tartet managed to maintain his momentum slowly building in intensity until his tendons and muscles strained and thrummed throwing him back and forth turning on a dime

But Randidly was even more impressive and he felt it or at least the edges of it The utility of these steps in controlling this space that he could use to trick an opponent Tartet wasn’t an opponent that was pay attention to feints but in that moment Randidly felt those steps too the infinite possibilities the steps leading in 1000 different paths First Haste then Empower and now Mana Strengthening he used all of his combat skills pushing his speed further and further leading Tartet on a wild chase

It was obvious to Randidly that Tartet couldn’t handle the speed for much longer Their was a hair of hesitation during the turn where there wasn’t before as his opponent struggled to keep his feet while they danced back and forth But Randidly’s stamina and mana depleted just as rapidly limiting how long he could continue like this

Or it would if not for

His expression remaining placid even as his fury burned hot and proud in his chest he drew 300 Stamina from the rings on his fingers upping the speed a little bit more appearing behind Tartet and finally attacking with a Phantom Thrust

For a second Randidly thought that the attack would hit his opponent without a hitch But then Tartet spun weirdly causing the attack to only inflict a flesh wound and also positioning himself with one spear held high and angled downward the other low and angled upwards

Before he could react those spears snapped forward like the jaws of a wolf one ripping a gash in Randidly’s thigh the other digging a deep hole in his shoulder Just as quick they pulled back into that position and then sprung forward that hunger that pervaded his spear style howling wanting more

But Randidly had already activated Phantom Half Step several times in a row during that split second teleporting himself some distance away He had teleported himself so far away that he was off the stage and tumbled into the crowd

His fall knocked some individuals over splattering them with his blood They yelled first in shock and then in anger and regained their feet and rushed towards him spears raised They were like bottom feeders avoiding the strong but content to attack the weak Randidly didn’t spare them a glance instead he was staring at Tartet

After Randidly retreated rapidly backwards Tartet sneered down at him and then turned away With a clear dismissal Tartet walked cautiously towards Dian

The disappointment in Randidly’s chest was hot and fresh and strangely familiar It was the same feeling he had gotten when he had conceded the match against Donnyton’s Classers It was the bitter truth that his spear skills were not enough alone for him to win here Although he truly had some talent when it came to dodging using Spear Phantom’s Footwork his spear work hadn’t come together enough for him to inflict damage with his attacks He simply would walk into traps in that way

The spear users around him surged closer thrusting out with their weapons their faces gleeful and vindictive Still Randidly ignored them his pulse pounding in his ears

He had wanted this to go differently He had wanted his spear arts to slowly grow through battle becoming peerless in a single day Idiocy

His fists clenched This was a lot like the Donnyton challenges all over again but he had been even more harsh on his inclusion of moves Another difference was that when it came down to it The only thing holding him back was his pride not fear of killing So this challenge would turn out very very differently that Randidly swore

With blazing eyes Randidly activated Agony which smashed outward turning those gleeful faces into stunned and stupefied expressions A dozen Phantom Thrusts ripped out killing the briefly stunned spear users around him

Some of the others were able to withstand the pain but they still looked at Randidly with fearful expressions Dropping all pretenses Randidly drew several potions one Health one Mana and three Stamina and drank them all putting him much closer to an optimal condition His flesh slowly closed the bleeding ceasing Blood continued to pound wildly in his ears The Aether in his chest was furiously pulsing now

Fine Randidly growled hopping back up onto the platform Let’s play for keeps

Chapter 132

Tartet slowed his walk and glanced over his shoulder clearly shocked And Randidly noticed the second that Agony’s range extended to the man because his face immediately tightened

You you are a mage Tartet whispered crossing his spears defensively in front of him

Randidly didn’t bother to answer instead just walked forward his spear spinning slowly With the addition of spells Randidly had no doubt that he would be able to handle this challenger and likely all of the bottom feeders surrounding the stage He wondered why he had been too timid to do this in the beginning This sort of power was exactly what the people of this world wanted He should have recognized it from the beginning based upon the strange tradition of Tassles

It was time for this place to bear witness to The Ghosthound

But before Randidly could attack a strange chime rang out filling every corner of the arena Then a voice echoed outward a low calm male voice who seemed almost bored with his words

We have reached the 1 hour threshold for the Qualifier for the Regional Tournament At current 23% of the contestants have been eliminated either by withdrawing or otherwise There was a long moment of silence as the cold voice continued still bored There are currently 21 individuals standing across the 10 stages As a show of their accomplishments their Tassles will be displayed over the stages on which they stand until they are defeated

On cue long poles slid out from the central tower carrying with them a number of Tassles between 1 and 3 The one above Randidly’s stage had 3 His own a rich emerald with gold lettering A disgusting looking yellow Tassle with black letters that belonged to Tartet

But the final Tassle was just as strange and eye catching as Randidly’s it was red violet and the name of the contestant and Style were written in a sickly white After a few seconds to consider the strange concept of Tassles Randidly lowered his gaze his eyes narrowed It was time to fight Tartet was still gazing upwards his eyes shocked and slightly vacant

Randidly glanced around and it seemed like everyone was just shocked by this announcement Was it his emerald causing trouble again Well it didn’t matter He had resolved himself to taking all of the attention so this little extra was nothing

He would blow away all resistance with force

I’ll say this once If you don’t ready yourself I’ll kill you Randidly remarked coldly and Tartet looked down his eyes focusing

Why are you and her together Tartet mumbled but he raised his spears some of his fighting spirit coming back to him Sensing that some of Tartet’s reaction was actually to the other Tassle Dian’s Randidly turned and looked at the girl

And it was a good thing he did The head of a spear flashed in front of him approaching as fast as a biting snake Randidly jerked his head to the side and was able to narrowly escape with a small scratch Growling he hopped backwards but as he made to land his feet wouldn’t obey him and he tumbled onto his back a strange numbness suffusing his body

Perhaps the snake metaphor was too apt Poison

So it was you Randidly could barely raise his head to look but the voice was female and the soft footfalls from the location where Dian had been standing revealed her To think it would end like this die miserably and let this cycle of revenge end forever

Dian raised her hand and flicked her fingers As she did so Randidly finally saw her weapon it seemed to be more whip than spear a long ropey coil that ended in a viciously sharp and poisoned spearhead And at that moment with his body barely responding to his commands the spearhead whistled towards Randidly’s heart

When the Tassles were revealed the area in the viewing tower around Shal fell silent Egger’s expression turned nasty as he saw that only 4 of the stages contained the Tassle of the Iron Spear Style Which even Shal had to admit was something of an accomplishment even if only the non core disciples of the Style were sent out

But as Egger looked out and finally saw the Tassle with the Spear Phantom Style written on it and the Tassle next to it

Vampyrus Took a disciple Egger said gasping

Shal nodded slowly It had been news to him too But none would fake their association with that Style Even before Shal had acted the Spearman School had turned against them

It appears Shal said slowly That the line of Vampyrus the Devourer has not yet ended

It was perhaps fate Shal reflected that he had bet Vampyrus’ spear earlier with Egger A fate that was very heavy and was now on the shoulders of his inexperienced disciple It would be a trial but

No great spear was ever forged without fire

Strangely Shal found himself smiling Even though obtaining information on Lucrecia was riding on his strange disciple that he had found lost and classless in one of the fiercest dungeons near Qtal Even though the Devourer would not lightly take a disciple and it seemed very possible that that small girl was hiding even more secrets on her body

Besides even if Randidly lost Shal wouldn’t lose hope He would kill Egger and force the information he wanted out of him and damn the consequences

So Shal smiled watching the battle below because for the first time in a long time Shal had found what direction he should be heading in

The whip spear rapidly advanced towards Randidly’s body which even with his prodigious regeneration and poison resistances he wasn’t able to muster more than the most flailing and ungraceful movement It must truly be a powerful poison that was contained on the edge of that blade

But his eyes simply narrowed and Randidly did something that he wouldn’t have thought he would ever do in an actual battle he summoned a root avatar He pressed as hard as he could with his mana and the roots erupted out of the ground twining and spinning upward forming a trunk a torso arms and the spear before the opponent’s weapon arrived And it simply stood there as the spear head sunk harmlessly into its chest before ripping its roots out of the ground and advancing with mechanical steps towards Dian

She frowned No matter how you struggle it will be short That poison would reduce anyone without the Poison Resistance skill to a corpse in minutes Even with that skill someone who didn’t have it at least at Lvl 20 would be weakened for days

Then she stretched her whip spear out and Randidly noticed that the rope was covered in thin blades She threw it forward and the weapon ripped the root avatar in half and continued forward aiming for his chest

But the avatar did not really have any weaknesses As opposed to being weakened by being cut in half it was now able to move in two different directions The roots that had previously made up the legs exploded upwards grabbing the spear whip and pulling it downwards bringing it crashing to the ground The torso pulled itself along heading towards Dian

Tartet who had been watching up to this point stepped forward I do not like interfering in another’s duel but you are weak Ghosthound For that I sentence you to death

Abruptly Tartet his eyes widening stopped speaking The reason for this was the fist sized hole in his chest obliterating his left lung that was caused by Randidly’s Incinerating Bolt It was truly a move that moved too fast for you to respond to it Tartet stumbled backwards spitting up some blood but Dian’s advance forced Randidly to turn his attention away before he could send more than a Spearing Roots to finish him off

Even now the insidious nauseating pain of the poison spread through his body becoming more pervasive with each beat of his heart But Randidly’s body was marshalling its own defenses Not only was his regeneration already quite high but he also had several passive skills boosting his resistance and regeneration He was quite weak and that didn’t look like it would change soon but he could at least move

To make himself even more mobile he created a thick root and pulled it out of the ground and wrapped it around his waist More roots sprung upwards twining around his arms and neck keeping his body in position

What he saw made him frown although the avatar’s torso had crawled valiantly towards Dian by the time they had crossed paths the location of the spear’s cut had begun to fester and foam and nearly all of the body had withered to nothing That poison acted so quickly on just the roots What did that mean it was doing inside of him right now

better not to think of it

And anyway Randidly had more pressing issues Dian slowed as she approached avoiding the waves of Spearing Roots that he sent up towards her legs She was soon covered in dozens of tiny scratches but she was able to use her quick reflexes and speed to move past most of them advancing rapidly towards Randidly

Gritting his teeth Randidly shakily raised his hand and unleashed an Incendiary Bolt His body was getting very close now if he could hold out a little longer

But as Randidly expected because she had seen him use it on Tartet Dian was able to spring to the side buying Randidly a few short seconds but hardly giving him a serious solution to stop Dian’s advance

Seeing no other choice Randidly closed his eyes and focused inward Then he let all the weakness and frustration and fear that was creeping up in his heart rush together and form a ball a hot and violent core within him This woman wanted to truly kill him for some reason he didn’t understand She had ways of reducing him to an invalid But still

But still

He would not stop walking forward

As he opened his eyes Randidly wasn’t surprised to find that Dian had rushed forward crossing almost all of the distance towards him But in that time the strange Aether in his chest began to pound He wanted it He wanted this victory and in that moment it was almost an all consuming obsession

Wall of Thorns

Plants sprang upwards weaving together forming a barrier between the two of them and Dian cursed Pussy Still running and hiding

She lashed out with her whip and was surprised to find that the barrier didn’t fall immediately Growling she attacked again and all of the wall was shredded visibly withering and dying even before the scraps landed on the ground

Dian blinked Randidly was gone

Or rather he was above reaching the apex of the jump of Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth And at that moment his grin manic he pointed his spear downwards and began to fall his slightly numb fingers curling around the shaft of his spear

Chapter 133

Claptrap had been able to sell his ornate helmet for a decent profit and that would sustain him for a while longer but otherwise It had been a very disappointing market Although plenty of customers had walked past they simply didn’t even notice that he was a separate stand than the two lavish set ups on either side of him

Honestly immediately after he had sold the helmet Claptrap experienced intense regret for he realized just how much of a draw that ornate helmet had been Without its high quality craftsmanship and materials to draw the eye Claptrap’s small stand was just a piece of wood in the eyes of the powerful spear users who would come to this high market

Although it was frustrating no one had even noticed the engraved bracers that he had received from the Ghosthound They simply were too shabby looking At this rate

Just then Claptrap looked up only to frown as he saw a large group walking down the aisle towards the location where his booth was located Located at the front was a grinning man who was clearly being bootlicked by the oily Izzat who was rubbing his hands together in a disgusting way practically drooling at the thought of obtaining such fat sheep

And fat sheep they were because in the middle of their group a towering ogre of a woman stood with a Tassle held aloft a soft soft blue barely more than white It was the Crashing Wave Style who were the largest Style in Qtal and the surrounding area

Well it’s hard to say we do business with a lot of merchants The grinning man was saying rubbing his beard We don’t really have exclusive contracts But of course we are amenable to competitive pricing

Don’t you worry about that Ask anyone Uncle Izzie gives you all you are entitled to and more for a fair price Izzat said his eyes crinkling so far he looked like some sort of chubby night terror

Seeing him like that walking with people from such a big Style it was too much and Claptrap felt something snap inside of him Almost before he had realized what had happened he had slammed his fist down on his small booth cursing his luck cursing himself for running away from Ciel without saying anything even cursing Ciel in a small part of his heart for driving him away from his happy life to this

To be overtaken by this bootlicker

The grinning man turned at the noise tilting his head to the side Most of the surrounding merchants were looking at Claptrap too slightly shocked It wasn’t that loud noises were uncommon in the area just that

had there been a small stand there this whole time

Ah Claptrap Oh Sir this is a minor merchant with which I have some small dealings perhaps we should check his stock Izzat’s eyes had already scanned what was on the table in front of Claptrap and his mouth had twitched slightly after he had examined it all Although Claptrap was sure he was a better judge of quality Izzat was still a wiley old merchant He clearly saw the low quality nature of the bracers on the table And he wasn’t going to miss this chance to humiliate Claptrap He occasionally has unusual finds Anything worth this honored sir’s time Claptrap

The question was obviously a trap a part of Claptrap noticed but humiliation and frustration and rage were all mixed inside of them and they insisted he refuse to back down So Claptrap raised his head proudly and said Of course Would honored sir please examine these bracers

Izzat’s face was twisted between shock caution and excitement as he struggled to understand why Claptrap wouldn’t back off but the grinning man came forward his amused expression still in place The man seemed to know that some sort of posturing was going on behind the scenes but it was clear that he didn’t really mind as long as it was amusing And approaching these poorly stitched bracers he had no doubt that it would be

The man picked up the first bracer

Randidly descended picking up speed and Dian only looked up at the last second her eyes widening with realization Which was good because Randidly couldn’t do much fine spear work yet even if his body was slowly struggling to throw off the poison But Randidly couldn’t care less what he couldn’t do because he was sure right now that there was one thing that he could do

And that was to end this strange poison woman

He landed with a crash Dian just scrambling backwards Unfortunately the shockwave knocked her even farther away disorientating her but only injuring her slightly Randidly pulled on his rings gathering up the rest of his stamina and mana

Several bursts of Spearing Roots ripped upwards and Dian didn’t notice until one had already pierced her thigh wriggling upward in a strange root y victory dance Her eyes widened and she showed a surprisingly decisive personality as she twisted ripping the hole in her leg even more widely but she was able to use her spear whip to sever the roots in the surrounding area

Another wave of Spearing Roots was on its way but she was perhaps just as skilled as Randidly at fleeing She flicked her whip out and following the elongated weapon Randidly was surprised to find it wrapped around the leg of a surprised Tartet who appeared to have just regained his feet mostly recovered

Yanking on the whip Dian’s body blurred sideways out of the oncoming roots shooting sideways over towards Tartet who fell to the ground with a yelp unable to withstand the sudden force Eyes narrowing Randidly raised his hand his Eyes of the Spear Phantom focusing to a pinpoint

It shot forward aimed directly into Dian’s path and she didn’t see it until the last second It struck the hand that held her weapon ripping a hole in her palm and knocking the weapon out of her hand She tried to use what remained of her hand to steady her fall but the hand gave out and her face smashed into the ground her nose breaking with an audible crack

Randidly grinned and pointed Spearing Roots ripping upwards out of the ground ripping through Dian’s armor But she wiggled like a fish and was able to avoid any serious wounds And also with her good hand she had produced a potion a pink one that Randidly recognized as the same type that the Yeti had used that appeared to restore everything to the user He raised his hand to send another Incendiary Bolt but Tartet regained his feet and stood between the two of them blocking Randidly’s line of sight

Ghosthound Spear users do not stoop to fighting with mag

Randidly’s mind was ignoring Tartet considering the options at 1 million thoughts a second Root Manipulation would require more sight to use Spearing Roots had proven ineffective Summon Pestilence took too long Incendiary Bolt would just lose its killing power on Tartet Circle of Flame and Agony don’t have the range

Randidly needed to close the difference and ideally eliminate the interference from Tartet as soon as possible

The Spear Advances Ash Trails Randidly’s eyes burned with the image the explosion of force the purity in a simple spearhead advancing He saw it too the implacable deadliness of Dian’s spear the hunger of Tartet’s spear

But that was not his spear His was a spear with tyrannical momentum A spear that would not stop no matter the obstacle

His was a spear that advances

To his credit Tartet managed to get his weapons up in time activating the strange vibrating spears and even moving to attack his eyes narrowing as Randidly approached But that split second wasn’t enough even for the highly trained Tartet

His body was sent flying like a ragdoll and Randidly flew forward in his wake twisting slightly midair Although he was unable to control his momentum mostly due to the continued effect of the poison but he was satisfied with still moving forward towards Dian Randidly raised his spear and activated Empower and Haste his eyes locked on Dian’s throat There was a strange maroon energy around her slowly spreading outward but Randidly ignored it forcing his will down and wrapping it around his spear almost instinctively

Immediately he could faintly see an emerald energy around his spear and Randidly wondered if this was Battle Intent but it was only a fleeting thought and he used Phantom Thrust The spear ripped forward cutting into the strange energy without any ill effects swiftly advancing towards Dian’s vulnerable throat

Their eyes met Dian’s narrowed and bitter Randidly’s glowing emerald and vicious

This is your fault you pushed me to this ’ Her eyes seemed to say

I only take your life because you tried to take mine ’ His eyes answered

But as his spear ripped forward that energy surrounding it was slowly devoured reduced to nothing leaving only the spear At the last second his spear sunk a fraction of an inch into Dian’s throat drawing blood The second after that all of the emerald energy was gone and there truly was only the spear which instantly disintegrated to nothing within that maroon energy

Eyes narrowing Randidly leaped back his body clumsily reacting to his commands still The energy exploded outwards not exactly following him but more like flowing towards him in his direction He raised his hand to protect his face and continued to retreat backwards Very quickly he had outstripped it because the energy flared then fell back settling around Dian

She looked at him strangely then raising the pink potion to her lips Randidly looked at his hand

Most of the flesh on the front had been stripped away leaving only bloody muscle and bone The rings on his right hand were ruined melted to nothing Luckily his interspatial ring was on his other hand Drinking his own potions Randidly eyed her just as she eyed him

You surprised me ’ Both of their eyes said

Ghosthound Tartet said struggling to his feet panting You fucking piece of shit I’ll kill you for humiliating me like this

But Tartet was wounded too and produced his own potions drinking them quickly The three stood eyeing each other warily Randidly had missed his chance to kill them both due to the interference of the other and it appeared that the other two knew it But it was also clear that to Dian and Tartet it was still 1 v 1 v 1 They would not work together That was their pride

Even so Randidly would have an extremely difficult time His breathing had returned to even and he removed another bone spear from his ring but he had played out most of his hidden moves Meanwhile it was impossible to determine exactly what this strange energy that Dian made could do and Randidly didn’t doubt that Tartet knew another move to make his skill set so powerful

Randidly didn’t know how much time was remaining but it was going to be

Ill fated peasants why do you bleed over my stage

Chapter 134

Claptrap kept his face carefully neutral The grinning man was no longer grinning His face was still as the ran his fingers over the bracer Almost reverently he set it back down and picked up the next one Here too he took his time his fingers deftly tracing the engraved lines that the Ghosthound had left in the leather

Claptrap felt it growing in him like a noxious weed abating his anger It was hope spreading wildly He wouldn’t possibly be taking so much time if it was just for a joke now could he

Izzat was now hovering behind the man but from a distance it was impossible to see the engraved lines filled with a rich and vibrant mana So he could only wonder why this man a member of the great Crashing Wave Style would spend so much time on a piece of leather armor that he could have made himself with barely any levels in his Leatherwork skill

The man set the second bracer down and picked up the third which was the Ghosthound’s greatest with an effectiveness of 52% The man’s eyes tightened but he said nothing taking the time to use his fingers to explore every inch of the engraving Claptrap was starting to realize that he was searching for something but he couldn’t be sure what that was As it was he could only wait

The man set the final bracer down and spoke Madam Adept a moment of your time

Claptrap and Izzat both paled as the towering woman handed off the tassle to one of the other members of her style and walked slowly forward She was one of the Adepts of the Crashing Wave Style Although they had a few dozen Spear Artisans even the largest style in Qtal only had 3 Adepts at the moment And considering her prodigious size and gender

There was only one that fit that description Ivkka the Slow Tide

Her eyes flicked across the bracers then she blinked slowly Is this a joke

Claptrap stood there for several seconds before it became clear to him that in fact she was talking to him Uh no But he didn’t really know what would be a joke about his wares

Then he realized and stammered A a at least I d don’t think so A man approached me saying he was a novice engraver unaffiliated with the guilds

Claptrap stumbled to a stop And from the way that Izzat’s eyes widened he suddenly regret that he had stammered that out so easily where anyone could hear him The Guilds took their trade very seriously and took certain steps to ensure that any individuals with the talent for engraving joined their guild

Or they became unable to engrave in a series of tragic accidents

If Izzat would leak that information or worse try to blackmail him with it

But Ivkka just chuckled her laughter and voice slow and even You need not lie friend I am aware that the guilds occasionally send out their apprentices with a shell merchant in order for them to gain experience But I would never had guessed that the Guilds would come to such a small place as our Qtal

Claptrap couldn’t respond He just opened and closed his mouth Izzat was now looking at him with narrowed eyes calculating Ivkka continued to speak Perhaps then when you are willing to display your true wares we can do business Come Sevven

The grinning man Sevven whose easy smile had returned spared Claptrap a glance before following Ivkka away Hesitating for a moment Izzat decided quickly to scurry after them still interested in a deal But from the stink eye he gave Claptrap over his shoulder this business wasn’t concluded and Izzat still had his suspicions

Abruptly alone and with the gazes of the surrounding merchants on him Claptrap felt very cold Why had he said that

After shivering for several minutes he abruptly put the bracers away and left not even bothering to speak to the event staff He needed space and some time to think what saying that would mean for his business

Would this Ghosthound end up being a blessing or a curse

Despite his high status as the most talented recruit of the Iron Spear Style he had simply jogged around the arena for the first hour content to wait things out He saw many powerful spear users that aroused his fighting spirit but he had received instruction from his master Egger to help the Iron Spear Style dominate every stage

He had even taken to wearing a disguise so he wouldn’t be recognized After all in Qtal and the surrounding areas the most talented disciple the Iron Spear Style had seen in 50 years needed no introduction Just his trademark aura of confidence was enough to make lesser opponents quake with fear

Much to his disappointment only 4 of the stages had the tassle of the Iron Spear Style at the halfway point He shook his head sorrowfully but it could not be helped After all although he had done all he could to assist his fellow disciples they didn’t possess his talent and poise They would never understand the Iron Spear Style like he would

It was a style focused on steadfastness in the face of adversity of withstanding incredible pressure without bending It was perhaps not the flashiest style which disappointed him somewhat but that didn’t matter After all his shocking performance would be flashy enough to make up for any weaknesses in the Style

As he jogged past a stage he looked up to see that the crowd here was rather thin Although there were already 3 people on the stage they all seemed to be heavily injured and were carefully sipping potions while eyeing each other up

Cowards

Seeing the first stepping stone he would take to lead the Iron Spear Style to greatness he moved forward heading towards the crowd Apparently even his talent for disguises was too impressive for as he pushed his way through the crowd no one gave him a second glace He secretly memorized all of their faces with his prodigious memory swearing to repay this slight 1000 fold

As he moved to the front he realized how decidedly pathetic all three of the spear users up on stage were He hadn’t seen any of their moves but all 3 of them had ripped clothes and dried blood on their bodies evidencing their earlier wounds One wasn’t even wearing shoes

Grinning he removed his cape and mask with a flourish revealing himself right at the edge of the stage

No one around him wavered as they stared intently up at the three on the stage And those three continued their strange pregnant silence as if waiting for a sign that they should overcome their fear and resume fighting There was currently no honor here

He would change that

Ill fated peasants why do you bleed over my stage He said stepping grandly up onto the stage with the three cowards For several long seconds they did nothing The closest the pitiful shoeless one didn’t even turn A man foolish enough to wield two spears at once squinted at him then yawned The woman spared the new arrival a glance but then turned back to the shoeless one

He was infuriated To think that these fools would have the audacity to ignore him Well he would show them all how high the sky truly was

He drew his spear which was a beautiful piece of artisanship studded with precious materials to boost its effectiveness It even had a very basic Gazelle Engraving which boosted his Agility and Reaction

With this spear he would

He stilled his eyes locking with the far man’s who used two spears In that man’s eyes he saw a desolate wilderness and a rising storm of spears threatening to engulf him They were endless and hungry those spears like a pack of hyenas and they rushed forward aiming to eat him alive

Sweating he used every ounce of will to dispel the illusion emerging to stagger forward slightly The man snorted looking away

His eyes narrowed To think they would rely on underhanded mental attacks in order to throw him off his game Truly these three were bumpkins because they didn’t recognize him as the most talented member of the Iron Spear Style And obviously the Iron Spear was not one that could be swayed by petty illusions The Iron Spear was a Style that

His gaze met the womans

Her eyes were dark so dark that the irises seemed black from this distance and He found himself unable to look away As their gazes remained locked in spite of his struggles He found that the edges of his vision began to darken Slowly but surely piece by piece his vision was ripped away at the edges consumed by the darkness in her eyes As his gaze narrowed there was less that he could see apart from those eyes and even more quickly he was drawn into them until it felt like he was falling to his death there

Abruptly he blinked finding himself sitting on the ground trembling his spear laying next to him He had no idea what had happened or how long this had been going on for but he was filled with shame and a vicious anger After this he would track down these bumpkins and murder their families in their sleep

We won’t move while you deal with him The woman said glancing at the far man The far man nodded sneering The close man tilted his head to the side

Why me

You are closest The far man countered Seemingly despite himself the close man chuckled

It’s already taken care of

He gritted his teeth and stood furious that this shoeless savage would treat him so jokingly When his spear was deep in the near man’s gut he would

But instead of standing he toppled over and then vomited all over his spear As he struggled upwards his vision began to swim The edges blurring

But he was well trained and his style specialized in defeating illusions so he marshalled his will and created a wave of power that should clear his head Nothing happened

His vision grew dark and he could feel his mouth start to foam The nearest man turned and regarded him for a second The near man’s gaze didn’t inspire illusions and it didn’t consume his line of sight but there was something more intimidating about the mild light green gaze It was a look that demonstrated how little this near man cared about him

It was a look that for the first time in his life made him feel inferior

Poi son He mumbled his fat tongue barely obeying him as he collapsed forward

Randidly tsk’ed inwardly and Dian’s eyes narrowed and Tartet scowled The energy around Dian expanded eating up the Pollen of the Rafflesia that had been drifting towards her For his part Tartet raised his vibrating spears which also seemed to destroy the pollen

Randidly shook his head lamenting the fact that one idiot could waste the 10 or so minutes he had wasted standing here hoping the pollen would drift towards one of them knocking them out and giving him the chance to inflict a killing blow

Uh sir Randidly glanced behind him towards the voice A beautiful woman with long brown hair gestured helplessly I’m just going to remove the trash so

Shrugging Randidly spared the man who pulled out a fancy spear just to vomit on it one more glance Then he turned back to Dian and Tartet He listened very carefully but he needn’t have bothered The woman came on stage and simply dragged the twitching body away swiftly leaving

After she left as one the three of them raised their spears flexed their hands and cracked their necks

Well then I suppose this is a good a time as any to kill you Tartet said lazily Dian said nothing her strangely intense gaze still on Randidly

Randidly was never the one liner type so he simply walked forward a smile on his face as his feet carried him forward on his path

Chapter 135

Tartet and Dian glanced at each other warily Although both didn’t want the other’s help both knew that Randidly’s spells gave him an edge that was hard to overcome with pure spear work As such if they didn’t work together it was highly possible that Randidly could overwhelm them from attacks from too many directions and eliminate them But they also didn’t want to take any concerted actions to stop it

Randidly casually walked forward waving his spear unwilling to give them much time to work out their plan A hole sprung up in the middle of the stage large enough for a child to crawl into And out of that a dozen Root Spiders crawled out skittering over the ground Both Dian and Tartet gaped unsure of what they were seeing

Although he had wanted the Pollen of the Rafflesia plan to work Randidly had never held out much hope So he had been hollowing out a small area underneath the stage in the meantime his two opponents suspecting nothing as he drank mana potion after mana potion and began summoning Root Spiders

The strange creatures began skittering towards Dian and Tartet and both raised their spears ready to meet them Although they didn’t recognize them they did have some sense of their strength and they were only distracting as always the true threat lay with Randidly

Randidly continued to stalk forward walking closer to the two of them The Root spiders circled around them threatening but not moving His two opponents exchanged a glance

Which was exactly what Randidly was waiting for

The ground underneath Tartet erupted thick roots springing out to drag him down into the ground Tartet cursed and struggled his two vibrating spears ripping through the roots but he still toppled forward from his initial momentum falling into the hole which was tightly packed with more Root Spiders They leaped at him showing their teeth

Randidly turned his eyes to Dian That trap would hold Tartet for a time but wouldn’t be able to kill him But once Dian was out of the picture

Accelerating forward Randidly ran his Root Spiders leaping behind him Her eyes sparkling Dian raised her whip spear and swiped forward the weapon extending and slashing outward Without missing a beat Randidly sidestepped and his spiders leapt over the strike

Her face flushing Dian lashed out more But just like his Roots hadn’t worked on her now that Randidly had seen her use the weapon it was rather easy to avoid at this range The true danger was when it was in close quarters and a stray attack could break the skin and once more spread that poison throughout his body

The potions and his own resiliency had been able to drive away most of the effects but there was still a strange stiffness to him that he wasn’t able to shake His body could eliminate it well enough to run but there appeared to be some residue

So he had a vested interest in staying as far as possible from additional damage from those strikes And as Randidly rushed closer he hoped that his Spear Phantom’s Footwork was enough to keep the distance he needed to avoid those attacks

Dian kept throwing strikes forward but Randidly moved between them and the Root Spiders came close enough to start leaping at her Cursing she stumbled backwards slicing them away

Randidly took advantage of the distraction and arrived before her using Haste Empower and Mana Strengthening to push his Spear Phantom’s Footwork to a frightening level of efficacy Raising his spear Randidly aimed for the shoulder she used to hold her spear whip and used Phantom Thrust

Her reactions however were still top notch She spun away losing a tuft of her already short hair as she ducked and twisted through Randidly’s follow up attacked She raised her spear whip but he wasn’t about to give her a chance to use it While summoning Spearing Roots to attack her legs from behind Randidly used Phantom Onslaught unleashing thrust after thrust If she refused to succumb to the precision stuff better to drown her while he had her on her heels

But she continued to surprise him Twisting her feet in a weird way she hopped a few inches off the ground stepping on his Spearing Roots using them to vault over his head and flip to safety

Even so she only had a brief second of respite before Randidly arrived using Phantom Onslaught again But her move had given her enough room to bring around her spear whip and she was currently out of the range of the Root Spiders so she was able to defend against his attack

Or at least most of it Perhaps if it was the only move she would have survived without a scratch But it had been refined through the clash with Tartet and several of his thrusts during the Onslaught ripped large gashes in her shoulders and torso

Gasping she stumbled backwards her eyes flashing With gritted teeth she said You

A blast of fire expanded outwards cutting of her speech and sending her stumbling backwards His eyes glittering Randidly advanced his spear raised After three steps however a spear burst out of the ground vibrating fiercely

Randidly immediately sensed it and dodged to the side but it ripped into his calf severing several very important tendons He hissed in annoyance They would heal but it would take a while

You imbecile did you think that was enough to give me pause Tartet asked bursting out of the ground His scowl seemed carved on his face but as he glanced to the side towards the fellow challenger his eyes narrowed further and the scowl dropped away revealing

A hint of something else Of fear

Panting Dian stood her hand held up in front of her Around her hand that strange energy swirled going faster and faster forming a vortex around her hand slowly growing larger soon spreading to envelope all of her

Do you dare disciple of the Phantom Sect She hissed her expression haughty This is the Path of the Devourer The Greedy Hand Before it all attacks are eaten

Tartet hastily backed away clearly recognizing this move But Randidly didn’t know it But again their eyes locked

Flee before me ’ Her proud gaze seemed to say

My spiders are gnawing on your achilles You cannot move ’ He answered

They both stood there while the energy around her hand grew more and more chaotic As he watched her fingers warped then bent and cracked backwards causing her to groan softly So the strange energy would even devour her A foolish move then

But thinking of his own Agony Randidly couldn’t help but smile Perhaps there was some appeal to foolish moves after all

Most of all Randidly realized that he needed to be true to his image of the spear if he wanted to continue to improve And his spear would advance in the face of anything After briefly considering trying to surround his spear with that strange Intent energy again he swiftly discarded it Dian’s previous intent burnt through his rather quickly and this looked even more fearsome That wasn’t the answer

He had to advance

But perhaps the spear wouldn’t always be the weapon that he chose to use to do so

So Randidly raised his hands reaching deep inside himself

Let me see how hungry that hand of yours really is Randidly whispered Inspiration Pestilence descend flood this land

As his disciple raised his hands Shal narrowed his eyes He had learned a lot of things in his travels had seen a lot of different skills and spells But his disciple was strange When he looked at him he only saw a being that was extremely talented at survival but without many other strengths to speak of

But as Shal watched this battle he was forced to admit that when it came down to it everything else was just applied survival just that skill was enough to let his disciple dominate these two talented spear users

He supposed he should feel proud of the performance but

it was all done so sloppily He was definitely going to beat some sense into that disciple after this

The Greedy Hand brought back some memories that Shal preferred not to think about and put him in a morose mood If he hadn’t been so cheered by watching the three spear users dismiss Egger’s disciple so decisively he might have gotten up and left That move would also pose an interesting challenge to Randidly After all even Shal had struggled against the user of that move although the user was on a completely different level of strength

It was almost impossible to directly overwhelm And without the Spear Phantom Skill set to attack the girl directly

Then Shal heard the buzzing and looked up His eyes widened A huge cloud swirled above the arena so large it blotted out the sun It drifted downward and the buzzing swiftly became a droning A deafening chorus of hatred and hunger

Shal almost chuckled as he watched the millions of bugs swirl downwards in a funnel heading towards that hungry vicious energy in the girl’s hands You certainly don’t slouch when you make a decision do you Perhaps it was fate that we met disciple

Chittering their defiance the bugs crashed into the energy

Chapter 136

Randidly could only focus forward If he would allow his mind to waver his focus to slide to his numerous pains concerns about the result of this Tartet’s presence what he would do after this when his mana was lost to him he would lose his edge and the bugs would collapse into a swarm that would devour everything probably even him These bugs seemed to be about double the size of the normal bugs and quite a lot meaner with sharp pincers

So Randidly did not let his focus waver He was the bugs and they were a spear spinning downwards tighter and tighter thrusting forward always advancing Distantly he could see Dian as her eyes widened at the sight of this calamity that descended from the sky but then the spear probably as tall as a building with a small lake of bugs above that continued fueling it crashed down into that energy that Dian held aloft

Immediately before the bugs arrived Randidly did see how the energy flared around her hand and grew wider the rotation speeding up but then there was only the bugs and the humming filled his very bones as Randidly struggled to keep all of the disparate creatures under control

They were violent and hungry and seemingly all with their little spark of intelligence although it didn’t proceed much past it Unfortunately they were much more poorly behaved than his delightful Root Spiders which so easily followed basic commands

Of course Randidly had no doubt that 4 or 5 of these would tear a Root Spider to pieces in less than 10 seconds So there were trade offs but as the pounding in his head grew more sharp he wondered whether it was worth it

But he set that thought aside and pressed with every ounce of focus that he had driving those bugs downward in a tight spiral He had to keep them there or they would spread and he would lose the piercing power of the spear image he forced over their forms From that he could feel that even though Dian was able to devour almost all of the bugs she was slowly getting pushed back as more and more arrived faster than her energy could consume

And Randidly had more

With burning eyes he raised his hand and pulled and several thin tendrils of bugs spiraled downward joining the huge spear that crashed into the area of Dian’s figure now completely obscured by the buzzing and droning of Pestilence They made the spear swell growing larger and more vicious and Randidly started to feel some of his insects pelting the ground beginning to eat the very ground out from under her

Randidly could have controlled them to a more offensive direction but it would have taken focus that he wasn’t sure he could spare So he allowed them to continue their mindless feeding on the stone of the platform

Sweat trickled down his brow and he pushed more and more feeling Dian slowly slip farther and farther back Randidly grinned viciously If he could manage to push her off of the stage although it wouldn’t end her for good it would likely push them apart While Randidly would continue onto the Regional Tournament and training under Shal a spear user of this level would not have the ability to impact Randidly any longer

They would not meet again

To his shock Randidly hesitated if just for a split second Large groups of insects exploded outward smashing into the ground and into the crowd around the stage who now drew their spears and threw panicked attacks up at the cloud of hungry death that had escaped their tightly held reins But what use were spears against insects

Several people were mauled to death as Randidly struggled to regather large groups of those rogue insects while keeping up the constant pressure on Dian Luckily it seemed that some good came of his inattention and some of the insects had spread behind her and began to gnaw on the ground It was hard to see it due to the air being thick with buzzing wings and clicking pincers but Randidly could feel it through them just barely Their hunger combined with his previous actions with Root Spiders

Crash

Randidly smiled darkly Just like he had predicted the stage had been hollowed out too much and part of it collapsed It was several meters behind Dian and to the left but it was a much closer goal

With this observable goal Randidly felt some of his determination return and with a yank gathered all of the insects back up into a group throwing more and more down into the spear that smashed into Dian’s energy He could feel it weakening but it had stabilized during that time Randidly had lost control of the insects

With flashing eyes Randidly set about rectifying that situation

Carefully and slowly more and more insects rained down dragging her slowly backwards Minutes passed and Randidly’s jaw was sore from clenching it for so long But he did not relent because his was a spear that would only advance

Dian neared the edge in spurts and long dragged out periods of inaction When she had gotten so close that her heel was only a hair away and although her strange energy continued to devour it was only ? as large as it had been to start Randidly roared clenching his hand into a fist and mirroring it the group of insects above tightened into a stronger formation Then he threw that fist and they descended in a huge crushing wave still as many insects remaining as he had thrown already to be devoured They were seemingly endless and Randidly marveled at the power of Inspiration

But Dian too was not without tricks Her energy surged brighter a flickering defiance in the face of the numerous bugs It rapidly sucked up the ones there and seemed to keen its vicious hunger

When the fist of insects descended however it was smothered

There was no other logical outcome

Randidly felt her in the middle of the swarming insects keeping her energy around her trying to protect herself And he felt as she overbalanced and suddenly tilted backwards driven over the edge slowly falling with only the collapsed stage behind her

Dongg

A familiar bell rung and a voice spoke The qualifier is over All contestants cease attacks so the winners may be determined

Randidly almost shrugged helplessly as his huge mass of insects swarmed but suddenly a coughing man was in front of him holding a spear It was a long ornate thing of brass and the man simply tapped the spear on the ground still coughing and a wave of force flew forward

The insects cracked and fell and then disintegrated to dust

Dian was there covered in bite marks and scratches but she was still falling As Randidly watched she tumbled off the edge and out of sight

The coughing man turned to Randidly then looked at the spot Dian disappeared He teleported over to the edge looked down then shook his head Then the man reappeared on the far side where Tartet stood panting After giving Tartet a brief once over the man nodded then looked at the sky and spoke

Stage 7 will not need overtime There are only 3 individuals remaining on the stage

Three Randidly whispered confused Apparently the coughing man had very powerful hearing because he frowned at him for several seconds

After a while he seemed to relent yes three For although the stage collapsed the piece the girl fell onto was still unbroken It counts

Silent and prideful Dian climbed back over the edge to stand on the stage with the rest of them

Randidly smiled at her showing his teeth like a predator would Their eyes held for several long seconds Then Dian shrugged her own smile narrow and sharp After a moment of consideration Randidly said nothing further It would likely be pointless to argue with this strange middle aged man

And besides even though this woman clearly had a vendetta against him for some reason she wasn’t insufferable like some of the other insignificant characters he had been forced to deal with since coming to Shal’s world

Although it was hard to know whether he only thought that because she was objectively attractive But Randidly didn’t think that was affecting his decision all that much Having strong rivals to push you forward was necessary in his experience His experience reading martial arts fantasy anyway And he wouldn’t be caught unawares by her poison again Randidly would be much harder to kill going forward

Another stray thought popped up as the three of them drifted closer to the middle aged man Randidly wondered what this world was called He assumed it would have a name And it was beginning to get annoying to not be able to think of it as something other than Shal’s World

As his thoughts continued to scatter in the wake of his earlier spell his brain was hit with the brutal sledgehammer of exhaustion Randidly winced recognizing this as a system generated status that represented the fact he had overdrawn himself to control the vast swarm of insects He had only been under this a few times in the past during his Root Avatar training usually after a long night of engraving and it had never been this painful There might be a potion that was able to address this issue but Randidly wasn’t familiar with it

Besides some rest would probably do him some good He had earned it

Chapter 137

A voice boomed out above him drawing his attention upwards The Tassles will now be updated to display the winners of the respective stages To those who have made it congratulations You have earned your way to the Northern Regional Tournament for the Spearman School Bring us honor

Once again seemingly expanded to an even larger size their Tassles unfurled Randidly’s Emerald and Gold Tartet’s Piss yellow and Black and Dian’s Red Violet and White They were all eyecatching each for their own reason especially when compared against the sea of red oranges and goldens that fluttered on the other stages The one other color of note was a sky blue with black lettering which seemed to be on the stage directly opposite theirs on the other side of the observation tower

The old man nodded to them all then gestured imperiously for them to follow and then began striding away walking towards the viewing tower The three glanced at each other eyes narrowed Especially between Dian and Randidly who both felt their own immediate weakness after their previous confrontation and also the other’s weakness If there was any good opportunity to strike it would be now

Violence from you will be met by violence from me The man remarked once again coughing after he spoke not even turning around

Tartet just snorted and walked forward Idiots We have time enough in the tournament Why are you so hasty to die without an audience There is no honor in that

Moving stiffly Randidly walked forward to follow his skin prickling as he allowed Dian to be behind him But he felt instinctively that displaying weakness here was not what he wanted Instead better to let her see how little this bothered him Even though Randidly didn’t know how good of an actor he really was

And when he felt a hand settle around his elbow he barely suppressed his instinct to lash out

You Dian said frowning at him her sharp features narrowed even further as she struggled inwardly with something Finally reaching a decision she lowered her hand and finished somewhat lamely what is your name

Ghosthound Randidly said somewhat at a loss Dian raised her hand and ran it through her spiky red hair which was sticking up in all directions covered in dirt blood and insect ichor Then she nodded seriously and walked away

Somewhat confused Randidly lengthened his stride and followed until all three of them were walking in line

There was a rather tedious ceremony after they ascended to the topmost floor of the viewing tower and each was given a medallion that would serve as their ticket of admission into the tournament The winners from each stage stood seperate 23 in total due to a few stages having less than 3 but all stared at the Stage 7 victors with their distinctive Tassles over their heads

What Randidly found most interesting was that although he was given a cursory glance which was a little more than Tartet’s brief glance it was Dian that received most of the attention But she held her head high and received the stares without batting an eyelash Which was for the best because one of the things that Randidly liked most about his time here in Shal’s world was how little attention he received But it appeared to be slowly changing

Still Randidly remained optimistic After all they would probably go to another city for the Regional Tournament And based on what Divvit said Randidly would be forced to face opponents a level higher even higher than Dian and Tartet With that sort of competition hopefully he would no longer attract attention

But then again Randidly resolved himself to receiving it Because it wasn’t participation in the Regional Tournament that was necessary It was placing within the Top 8 Under the thunderous applause Randidly walked out the the arena struck by how ridiculous this all seemed But then again this was another world And here strength and honor were what earned accolades

Shal eventually found him surrounded by crowds and brought him out When they returned to the boat Shal gave him a long look You have an hour After that the training will begin Do you agree

And although Randidly’s head was really pounding now he nodded Although he was able to use his magic to make up the difference the fight had clearly demonstrated his own insufficiencies especially in regards to the spear Maintaining powerful spells was important but it wasn’t enough His Spearmanship must at least rise to the level where he could hold his own

So after around 30 minutes of silent meditation in his room where the worst of the rebound from overtaxing his mental resources passed Randidly opened his eyes and viewed his skill screen

He had gained 3 Skill Lvls in Spearing Roots 1 in Root Control and Pollen of the Rafflesia 2 in Mana Strengthening and Wall of Thorns 1 in Agony Incinerating Bolt and Circle of Flame 3 in Plantomancy 2 in Spear Mastery and Spear Phantom’s Footwork 1 in Phantom Thrust and Eyes of the Spear Phantom 1 in Phantom Half Step 2 in Dodge and Block 2 in Haste 5 in Phantom Onslaught 2 in Empower and Fighting Proficiency 1 in Calculated Blow and Edge of Decay 2 in Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth and Struggle and 5 in Battle Intent

Randidly also gained 3 Levels in the Spear Advances Ash Trails he had 2 levels in Engraving from the morning 1 in Physical Fitness Meditation and Running 5 in Poison Resistance 2 in Mental Strength and Grace 1 in Bacterial Regeneration 3 in Superiority and 4 in Mental Fortitude

An excellent haul for a day and a half’s work but this was the reward that came with experiencing several near misses with death And for using his moves on actual people rather than just training alone

And since he currently had no path Randidly considered his options

Watcher 0/ Heretic VI 0/ Oathbreaker 0/25 Initiate of Ash I 0/75 Path of Carnage I 0/ Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 0/50 Path of Control 0/200 Grace I 0/75

There were two changes of note in his options The first was foreboding but Heretic had increased to VI There was no corresponding notification as Randidly scrolled through the still fuzzy notifications affected by the potion but it would bear watching However if there wasn’t a notification there probably wouldn’t be another Judgement soon For now Randidly hoped it wouldn’t be until Heretic X and moved on

The other new choice was the addition of the Grace I Path Grace was a passive skill but it had real tangible effects on his balance and center of gravity It was hard to tell what the path would get him but it was an option

He had gained 73 PP but wasn’t sure which direction to head Path of Control still seemed like the most worthwhile but it came with a hefty price tag And Randidly wanted to focus more heavily on his physical attributes His spells were currently sufficient while his physical prowess was not

Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 seemed like a reward path but was somewhat fishy Initiate of Ash was something he should research more before going into

Weirdly Randidly found himself selecting the Watcher path Although it was one that he had possessed for a long time that was part of the appeal it was likely a short path And he would rather start it quickly and finish it now while there was no obvious option other than Path of Carnage I But that might take a while and it would be good to get it out of the way

When he placed the first point into it to his surprise a fuzzy notification appeared in front of him Apparently it was a good thing that he had waited to take more of the potion

Warning Selecting Watcher 0/ Will result in the loss of the Path These paths are mutually exclusive Do you wish to continue

Randidly hesitated for a small moment and then clicked no If they were mutually exclusive and with a lame name like Watcher Perhaps it would be more fun to gamble on the random one It would likely have a similar PP requirement

So Randidly backed out chose the all ’s path and selected yes at the notification Only to be faced with another notification

Warning There has been an error in the establishment of the path Certain prerequisites have been lost Development of a related path is possible Warning if you continue with insufficient fuel death or other side effects may result Do you wish to continue

After taking a deep breath Randidly reached within himself finding those slender threads of Aether He could see how they spawned from that strange source held in his chest growing thicker by the day The source too seemed somewhat larger pulsing with its sickly light It burned and frothed then frosted and cracked flowing into every corner of him His body was lousy with the stuff

Grinning Randidly clicked yes

Processing

Against his will Randidly’s body shuddered and twisted The Aether in his chest began to burn hot The feeling in his fingers and toes quickly disappeared and blackness slowly consumed the edges of his vision The walls of the small room began to swim and Randidly suddenly felt a pang in his stomach

Perhaps he had just made a terrible mistake

In the next moment the energy in his chest froze solid and he couldn’t breath and his fingers began to dance and twitch filled with a fiery energy He growled huskily the only noise he could force out of his seized chest The energy within him began to pulse not unseizing inside of him but moving with a rhythm Slowly that rhythm aligned with Randidly’s heartbeat

Without counting them Randidly felt the heartbeats slip past until the thrum of blood and energy in his body drove his heartrate and blood pressure up to the point he could feel the pounding in his eyes and he felt like his eyeballs would explode outward

But his chest slowly defrosted and the pressure faded away but simultaneously grew louder thundering in his ears

Failure matching pair not found Expanding database parameters

In his stomach the Aether began to twist and swirl forming slowly into a cyclone It pulled and pulled and although he had always heard it referred to as an Aether Spring within him he had never really understood what that meant But now as the Aether surged upwards exploding out to fill his entire body he knew

All this time although he had drawn some of the Aether most of it had flowed into him and found no avenue to spread It didn’t radiate out of his skin but could only travel through the connections he made Some of that Aether was lucky enough to flow along to Thron and Arbor and other amounts went to Sam Alana Annie and Mrs Hamilton but that was still a fraction of the potential the Aether Spring possessed

After all it was enough to support an entire village

So it had gathered deep within him settling into a strange reservoir packing itself tighter and tighter forming a denser and denser mass of energy waiting it for it to be summoned And now that Randidly beckoned even slightly it all rose exploding to his aid

It began to burn partially of heat partially of cold and Randidly wanted to scream such was the grinding vicious pain caused by the energy inside of him But all of his muscles seized again and he was stuck Without moving with a certain fatality to his mindset he waited in his traitorous body as the energy pulsed louder and louder The veins in his arm stood out like bulging worms and he saw them twitch as the energy pulsed

Failure No matching pair can be found Recalculating

The energy moved again cracking and scattering syphoned off somewhere Randidly took a breath gasping Although his physical condition had improved he still needed to breath

Well eventually for sure but the time he could hold his breath might be pretty impressive now

Warning anomaly detected System warning

The most recent notification appeared and disappeared just as fast as Randidly could read it Then he began to doubt himself because his vision was still vibrating at the edges

Then Randidly froze because he felt something very distinct and very strange He felt hands inside of him They were soft and the fingers were long reaching slowly inside of him and gathering up the strands of wild Aether moving them and weaving them Each finger acted with the utmost dexterity holding various strands in place while the hands moved Their was a grace to its actions that made Randidly shake his head in wonder

Or at least he would have had the Aether allowed him to move

As this process was going on the hairs on Randidly’s body stood straight up but he couldn’t turn his attention away as the hands continued to work on the Aether within him Although it wasn’t something Randidly currently understood it made him wonder

What were these hands doing And obviously more importantly where had they come from

Chapter 138

Randidly could still sense how this was somewhat similar to Engraving But they were so far apart from each other It was like comparing the act of writing a novel to a child learning to write letters There were flows and twists eddies and splits The most important difference was that it felt whole and organic in a strange way The thing that these mysterious hands were creating inside of Randidly was something that was living and could change and evolve It was weaving potential into every line and curve

It was he assumed a path The path that failed to be created previously Which perhaps meant this was some entity related to the system And if someone was going to all this trouble to make it it was undoubtedly a very special one Or at least he hoped so

Randidly’s instincts continued to scream at him because the hands moving inside of him shaping the Aether was an extremely invasive and uncomfortable feeling But he didn’t dare move This being appeared able to interfere with notifications Although the potion Randidly had obtained had been able to do that it was just making them invisible to him That didn’t change the effects of them

This was on the level of adjusting the notifications Randidly was suddenly struck by the strange feeling that whoever this was understood in a very sophisticated way how the system worked And if this person could learn

Randidly resolved himself to try too as those hands moved more and more quickly So he focused inward ignoring the urge to vomit and watched the motions The continued to twist and tie Aether together and then deftly compress it into smaller parts moving onto other things Like so an infinitely complex arrangement made of thousands of runes of the type Randidly had made was pressed into a tight shape

Then the shape glowed

But before the hands departed they moved deeper within him He felt those invisible fingertips on each of his skills lingering especially long on the Runic rarity skillset Then they moved forward and gently landed on his Soul Skill swirling at his core For a long time those fingers stayed there carefully feeling the shape of it tracing its contours almost pulling and stretching it slightly as if to see more

Then after the hands seemed satisfied with his soul skill the hands reached back to the strange shape it had made inside of Randidly and twisted and pulled deftly seemingly tying a knot Then the Aether seemed to click into place

Randidly gasped the hands were gone and his body began to burn

Congratulations Your path (&832h089Ll has transformed into the Lonesome Spear Path 0/100

Randidly collapsed backwards breathing heavily For several long minutes he stared intently at the most recent notification The Lonesome Spear huh

Cautiously he put his remaining PP into it 1 at a time At 25 PP he received the first notification

Congratulations You have earned +50 Health

He received another at 50 PP giving him +50 mana before he settled at 73 Likely 75 would be +50 Stamina but Randidly wondered what the completion bonus would be Because honestly the rewards so far were much less than he expected for something that required the interference of strange mystical hands

Randidly considered broaching the topic of those hands with Shal but he was worried After all it was hard to tell how widespread the knowledge of Judgement would be It is possible that the system would somehow encourage people like him to be hunted

But then Randidly shook his head Shal wouldn’t be like that But still it was a dangerous topic Best to broach the topic carefully

After checking the time Randidly once more returned to meditating trying to restore himself to a better condition in the remaining 10 minutes until he needed to meet Shal Undoubtedly considering his master’s methods it was going to be a long night

Claptrap sat bolt upright scared out of his mind He obviously wasn’t at a high level of skill or physical prowess he had still put quite a few points into perception in order to more effectively examine the quality of armor But now in the dead of night there was a figure standing in the dark over his bed looming like the shadow of death

But then the figure produced a lamp from somewhere and produced a soft light illuminating most of his features revealing an easy smile Claptrap’s heart initially eased because he recognized this man as the smiling man who had been with the Crashing Wave Style but then began to pound because the fact that he had come here in the night

Hello The man said simply You may refer to me as Artisan Dwei We have some business to discuss Nod if you understand

Claptrap nodded woodenly his fear withdrawing somewhat and his merchant mind coming to the fore at the mention of business But that moniker hung in the air between them Artisan Although it was the least of the titled recognition provided by the Spearman School it was still a level that only 1 in 10 000 reached In a city like Qtal very few would go against an Artisan Although there were Adepts present in the city there were only 20 or so of them and they mostly kept to themselves concerned with affairs far above the average citizen

To be visited in the dead of night by an Artisan was an implicit threat But it was also an opportunity because Claptrap still breathed And though panic made him want to hide his face he could also see Ciel’s gentle smile And for her he would do anything He would seize any opportunity he had to

Artisan Dwei chuckled It’s good to see you have some spine I’ll be short As many of those engraved armors you have the Crashing Wave Style will buy them In bulk 10 silver per piece of armor above the usual price for that armor provided the quality of the base armor is satisfactory If the efficiency is about 60% an additional 30 silver 100 bonus silver pieces for any piece of armor that reaches 80% If you can obtain better than that we can talk prices further but I doubt that is possible based upon your previous wares

Claptrap blinked slowly A leather bracer of high quality could be obtained for 15 silvers a few less if he bought in bulk However the sale price was usually around 20 So that meant that he could sell these for 30 silvers each That was a doubling of his initial investment Of course some would go to the Ghosthound but

If the Ghosthound could reach 60% that upcharge of 30 silver

Claptrap could only see golden goins for several seconds Then he shook his head

A problem Artisan Dwei asked his tone casual we believe our offer is very generous And let’s be clear Adept Ivkka was bluffing The Engraving guilds do no such training things precisely to prevent mid tier Styles from obtaining armor with minor engravings and obtaining an advantage

So when the guild does find you Artisan Dwei continued You will want to have some friends to help alleviate the pressure Your Engraver will join the Guilds or die You might be extorted for some of your profits But that won’t be such a loss especially if you have a large amount of goodwill to fall back on with your loyal customers

As Dwei continued to talk Claptrap’s face sank and he abruptly realized how fucked a situation this might turn out to be But his mind stayed sharp considering the offer As it was it truly was fair And he needed more money now to start the engine

Alright I accept I can only provide you with around 20 right now I’ll have to speak with the engraver for more Do you have Claptrap hesitated armor preferences

Artisan Dwei considered No I think not But it might be easier if we keep them separate For example Dragonfly on bracers Fish on boots Bear on breastplates

They hammered out the additional details and Artisan Dwei took the bracers Claptrap had in exchange for almost 400 silver After the Artisan had left Claptrap looked down in wonder at the money

Maybe He whispered to himself and to the stars above There really is hope I’ll see you again Ciel

After hours of working him to his limits Shal considered his disciple You are not as weak as I imagined

The foolish disciple grinned at him It had been a long night of exercises and sparring pushing the newest member of the Spear Phantom Style until he gave out In strength and speed and endurance he continued to display flexibility and poise adjusting to new challenges with an alacrity that surprised Shal

But it only made him sigh No you shortsighted youngling Your strength bodes ill for your chances in the tournament There are things we need to discuss

Shal sat down making himself comfortable His disciple remained on the ground his clothes sticking to his body from the sweat But his eyes were alive and focused That too had surprised him No matter how physically exhausted the boy should be he always had one more spark to meet a new challenge

Shal’s misgivings only grew He gave the boy a frank look You still have not obtained a class

The boy’s body stilled Apparently he understood some of the issues related to this But he nodded slowly confirming Shal’s fears Shal sat back mulling it over for a long time Which meant there was always the option of getting a class Originally Shal had assumed the boy had chosen this avenue of satisfying the obligations of the Spear Phantom Style for glory in the tournament but perhaps

It was just because all the others required a class

When you told me previously I honestly didn’t believe you I thought well it matters naught But your lack of a class and your strength poses a problem

His disciple frowned Why

Ah I am being broad Your stats boy Until today I hadn’t realized much of your strength comes from your high stats I had been assuming you were relying on high skill levels to match those who had leveled to around 20 but your stats equal them They even surpass them considering you have skill in magic as well

Shal sighed again We could have made plans to cover for lack of stats but they are your strength Your weakness is your skill levels What level is your Spear Mastery

After a foolish hesitation his disciple answered 81

Mine sits at 202 Shal said shortly In this tournament it will be strange for one’s skill to not be at 100 And that is just the general The specific skills will be polished to an even higher level You simply do not have the time to make this up without the time dilution of a dungeon The top 8 No perhaps even the preliminaries are impossible for you

Chapter 139

Randidly frowned but said nothing Previously he had the strange impression that Shal’s skill level was closer to his current skill level but perhaps he was mistaken He didn’t like what he was hearing but if Shal was correct If all of their skill levels were over 100 It was a sobering thought And considering how much difficulty Randidly had at overcoming those vibrating spears of Tartet even though he used Haste Empower and Mana Strengthening in addition to the actual skill

If what Shal was saying was correct and his stats were also slightly above his opposition here and would only be on par with those in the regional tournament

Randidly shivered That kind of difference in skill was intimidating He supposed the only reason that he had a shot was due to the varied nature of his magics and he suspected that many were like him and left Resistance as a stat that did not receive very much attention

Shal appeared to be brooding in silence so Randidly asked is there any hope then Couldn’t a Classer just train in a dungeon for an extremely long time before the tournament Years even while still staying below Lvl 25

In theory it is possible But in practice few do To suppress one’s strength overmuch is wasteful and rather pointless These requirements do not come into force very often only 5 years That is enough time for only 5 generations of the best and brightest to become the youngest of the style As for those who are aware they must compete at a certain level due to timing most fear Dungeon Poisoning and would not risk it overmuch It is not safe to rely on the time dilution for too much

Dungeon poisoning

Shal gestured dismissively A word for a body grown fat on Aether The concentration of Aether is naturally higher in a dungeon Almost 5 times as so While in a dungeon the time dilution causes your connection to your village’s Aether to be tenuous but you suffer no backlash as you absorb more from the air increasing your growth anyway Then as you require it less the Aether connection to your village wanes further It will never be destroyed completely but if your body is too reliant on ambient Aether and you leave the dungeon you can expect to be bedridden for months until Aether connection to your village grows strong enough to support you once more

Shal frowned at Randidly In fact I feared you would suffer just such a fate but that it would continue indefinitely for you have no class But I believed that the Aether reward would sustain you long enough for you to find and gain a Class and develop a healthy source The fact that you have continued this far with such strength is confusing

Then he shook his head But I do not begrudge you your secrets Go you may do what you will until lunch At that time we will train again until dusk I must do some investigations We cannot rely on ordinary means if we expect to turn you into a passable disciple