LoRG 1

Randidly ignored the insult and asked Before I go is there any information available on Patrons

Shal paused then turned and looked him up and down I had not thought of this Yes Divveltian tells me you have a merchant friend yes Consult him there are some widely accepted Patrons that have passable trials for their Initiates

Then Shal left and almost inexplicably Randidly bowed at his departing back Shal truly was an impressive spear user and had a knack for pointing out the flaws in Randidly’s form that was surprising considering his blunt communication style Well perhaps that was exactly why he was so talented at it

Although the training he had done with Mrs Hamilton had been effective it was hard to say whether it was the training style or the shift in perspective that had enabled that sudden growth And that growth likely wouldn’t have been sustainable the first levels were always the easiest to get in any skill

Meanwhile Shal was a well honed machine If anyone could give Randidly a chance in this tournament it would be him

But it was good that he would be able to obtain more information about Patrons If he ever returned to Donnyton well when he returned to Donnyton it would be incredibly useful for the people who reached the Apprentice path Randidly wasn’t really in the need of advice on which Patrons were good to choose obviously but rather he wanted to know the way the path progressed If the path he had was normal that would be fine but if it was one that resulted in him being teleported to that strange world again

Randidly blinked Speaking of Donnyton

He still took a sip of the black potion daily being increasingly confused by its seemingly endless nature and it eliminated notifications but

Randidly opened up his friends tab and sure enough due to the communications array towers in Qtal his box was filled with friend requests and messages asking if he was okay Seemingly endless There were at least 100 all from different people There were different styles too Raina appeared to write a small diary and send it to him Mrs Hamilton reported the results from the training exercises she developed while watching him

Donny just sent small reports on threats that they had dealt with that day There was even one from Bert the aged turtle that was simply Don’t slack off But perhaps the most adorable were the messages from Kiersty who with frequent misspellings excitedly described how Arbor was expanding and how much his plants missed him

After typing out a quick message to Donny on a strange keyboard that sprang into existence in front of him letting him know generally that he was fine and dealing with problems elsewhere he closed out his friends tab He wasn’t close enough to Donnyton to affect the outcomes anyway so there was no point in reading up on things only to worry about them Better to focus on the present where there were several issues that he needed to address

When Randidly walked out of the boat and onto the deck intending to go visit Claptrap what he found gave him pause The two female spear users who had tested him in the belly of the Tassle shop were now on the deck as well meditating Around the boats most of the other boats had unhooked their moorings and were drifting away and there was a path of choppy orange water towards which their boat slowly floated

Curiously there were two other figures on the boat their heads to the deck in some strange sort of prayer stance of genuflection They also looked oddly familiar

Above them Randidly’s emerald Tassle flapped eye catchingly next to the sky blue of Shal’s He turned to Divvit and asked What’s going on The boat’s moving

Divvit snorted Yes Not only was your performance too eye catching but it also revealed Shal’s presence here With the boat now flying both of your Tassles well Most would give way and let us move closer to the heart of Qtal as is our prerogative But it also brings more attention

Divvit nodded towards the genuflecting figures to whom Randidly turned And who are these people

Almost as if they had both been waiting for this opportunity both smoothly stood one male one female The female had long brown hair braided and curled down her back She was Randidly couldn’t help but notice extremely lovely A dirty part of him wondered how good with a spear she could really be with hips as well endowed as that but quickly squashed that line of thought She was Randidly thought in his second and more relevant realization the woman who had carried that fool’s body off of the stage during the fight

Randidly spared the male a glance then a longer more serious look as he watched him open his mouth

Heh I’m glad you asked The male said with a smug look raising his gem studded spear which had apparently been cleaned of his vomit I am the greatest talent the Iron Spear Style has seen in generations My name is

Err no Randidly interrupted wanting to cut him off before he began running his mouth I guess I really meant why are you here

Sir this one humbly requests that this one receive the honor of being your spear attendant The female said bowing again

The male chuckled evilly and spoke haughtily all the while bowing even lower than the female his nose practically brushing the ground as he spoke Hmph kneel and accept my honorable generosity I too will be the best spear attendant possible No need to thank me for I

Is this normal Randidly asked Divvit as he pointed to the two

Divvit chuckled Their personalities Perhaps not but yes spear users that have acknowledged their own inferiority and don’t have much room for upward mobility in their own Style will attach themselves to talented individuals It is a yearly commitment for them but you may terminate the relationship at anytime You don’t really need to do much for them they are effectively indenturing themselves to you in order to hitch themselves to your social status It is still a bit early I think for you to have spear attendants in terms of strength but

Shrugging Divvit closed his eyes and returned to meditating Randidly just scratched his head But he hesitated for a few reasons

It is definitely not because the woman’s looks ’ Randidly assured himself eyeing her bowing form briefly Then he shook his head If he was to up the training with Shal it would be hard for him to venture away from the boat very often And that was assuming that they remained here for the training Plus he wanted to continue his potion experiments and to fund what he needed to Engrave and both of those were rather time consuming activities

It might be worth it to have these two as spear attendants especially if he didn’t really need to do anything But did he really need them both

Randidly looked at them again and the woman straightened smiling sweetly at him But Randidly’s eyes were on the male who remained hunched over in a bowing position refusing to move He took in his posture the slight tremble to his body and the white knuckled grip on his spear

A drop of water traced down his brow and dripped onto the deck with an audible plop Randidly closed his eyes

Probably just sweat huh Randidly whispered then shook his head It was a little embarrassing how emotional he had gotten since becoming involved in Donnyton Before he had been Well he had been like a ghost Without a personality walking through life But slowly he was changing finding his own path

He was still emotionally withdrawn but he was starting to connect more with people around him More importantly though people were growing to value him It was a strange feeling to have others dependant on him First Donnyton and now these two

Strangely for the first time Randidly was truly thankful for the system and the changes it had brought to his life

Alright I accept Is there a ritual or a form we have to sign

Chapter 140

Claptrap spent most of the morning using the money he had received from Artisan Dwei to purchase leather bracers steel boots and iron breastplates He was able to cash in some of his other armors and use the rest of his savings and got 200 of each which would be a solid start to satisfying the Crashing Wave Style

Then he returned to his boat only to be flummoxed by a simple truth Claptrap had no idea how to contact the Ghosthound He opened his friends list and began to scroll through the previoulys met tab but because Qtal was such a densely packed city and he had also just been at the market at the most well attended event in the last month

Finding the Ghosthound was almost impossible there simply was no way to track him down He would probably have a few days but eventually Artisan Dwei would return At that time if he didn’t have any finished armor to give him

Claptrap shivered Although the other seemed like a personally reasonable person you didn’t become an Artisan by being soft So in the meantime Claptrap needed to

There was a knock on the door to his cab causing Claptrap to frown Standing up he walked over and opened the wooden door finding three individuals standing there

Yo The Ghosthound said coolly rubbing the back of his neck Claptrap almost burst into tears Then he refocused and launched into a rapid explanation of everything that happened with the Crashing Wave sect and how Claptrap may have revealed the Ghosthound’s engraving which might possibly get back to the guilds who would then come out to find him How this might all lead to them tortured in a dark place far away

As he finished breathing heavily he had the chance to look around What Claptrap saw caused his eyelids twitched slightly

Ah these two are trustworthy right He said gesturing towards the shapely woman and the angry seeming man who was opening his mouth The Ghosthound snorted cutting him off

A little late for that isn’t it Don’t worry about more importantly they said they would buy as many as I could make Interesting What’s the price

Claptrap’s face fell He couldn’t’ forget the Ghosthound’s incisive questioning that slowly stripped away Claptrap’s bargaining power Even now although the question sounded innocent he felt the possible profits fleeing away from him

W well the price is dependant on the quality of the Engraving At certain levels

The Ghosthound held up a hand then gestured to the woman You what’s your name

She bowed her lovely brown hair cascading forward to cover her face Her voice was soft and sweet It is Helen

Helen handle the details of this transaction You will probably be doing this a lot for me in the future so uh good luck

The woman seemed to tense to Claptrap’s eyes and what followed was a very awkward series of bargaining between the two of them while the Ghosthound and the other spear attendant watched After a few minutes the Ghosthound sat down and began to engrave right there working while they hammered out the details of the deal and things began to go much more smoothly

Although Helen was very savvy she lacked the sinister and unrelenting quality that allowed the Ghosthound to ask seemingly innocuous questions and still have Claptrap’s confidence in his price plummet There was just a calculating way that he had that made him impossible to fool It was much less stressful for Claptrap to negotiate with Helen but he sensed that for her she was sweating bullets After all if she failed at obtaining a good deal

Luckily she seemed well versed in the subject so much so that they started talking more exacting details on the quality of the workmanship turnover times and cost sharing

But then the Ghosthound spoke interrupting them both right before Claptrap was willing to accept a deal that would have earned him enough of the profits

Oh Claptrap the man said standing and smiling at him Just one quick question

Inwardly Claptrap began making calculations trying to parse out how much lower he could go and still respect himself There was definitely money to be made here but if the Ghosthound insisted on keeping it all to himself there really was nothing that Claptrap could do But when the question was finally asked Claptrap just blinked completely bewildered

do you have any information on Patrons

Err yes Claptrap stuttered Would you like the general Risk Sheet or the detailed

The Ghosthound simply glanced at Helen his mouth twisted into a frown She seemed to hesitate for several long seconds torn between two options very near to each other but after a time she seemed to settle on her answer and said We will take it all Perhaps you can throw it into our previous discussions and we will call it a day

After another quick round of mental mathematics Claptrap nodded and he shook hands with Helen The Ghosthound turned to leave then paused and pulled a long streamer out of his ring

Oh here I heard that if I wanted to show my support I should give you this Just hang it wherever I guess

And with that the Ghosthound took the armors to be Engraved and left leaving a very confused Claptrap holding the streamer And when he looked down to examine it finally noticing its color his confusion only grew This color

He recognized this color The color of the great shame of the Spearman School Why would he Was he possibly connected to that woman all those years ago

As his eyes ran over the gold lettering and the incredibly large and bold Ghosthound across the streamer his eyes landed on the Style affiliation It wasn’t one that Claptrap immediately recognized but it seemed strangely familiar to him The Spear Phantom style huh Why did that seem so familiar

Making a mental note to research it more later Claptrap pushed those thoughts out of his mind Instead he began to consider how to proceed with his purchases Although Izzat had been silent for a single day if Claptrap continued to make such mass purchases he would eventually surface looking for a slice of the pie

If he couldn’t get that

Better to start planning now Claptrap breathed in and then breathed out picturing Ciel’s shy smile He was not a particularly bold man but neither was he a scared one He had always lived his life simply because he was content A few months ago he had found a goal and flailed out searching for a hope Just when he thought it was impossible a hope came flickering into his field of view but now more things followed that hope including the cold threat of steel

Claptrap smiled and began to hum For Ciel he would break this entire world Let them come

Then he shook his head ruefully Confidence and madness was one thing but

How was he going to handle it

Randidly set the last scroll down his mouth twisted into a grin The information provided by Claptrap had been a rating sheet that showed the relative risks of several of the most common Patrons a guide that detailed the training sequence of some common Patrons and finally an encyclopedia that listed all of the known Patrons and some background on Patrons

Patron of Ash wasn’t included on the risk sheet which was initially very confusing to Randidly but his reading in the encyclopedia helped him understand It was unclear what Patrons were but it was clear that different worlds had access to different Patrons Perhaps once more due to their perspective on the subject

There were dozens of varieties of fire Patrons but there was only one Patron of Ash which was addressed in a fairly large section explaining some history and sightings of the Patron and some notable Initiates of Ash From the guide materials Randidly had learned that there were 3 levels given to people who take the Apprentice Path Initiates Anointed and Chosen

These labels were related to how far along in the apprenticeship a person had progressed All Patrons had 3 requirements each name signifying how many requirements an individual had passed

The Patron of Ash encyclopedia entry stated that at one point Initiates of Ash were fairly common There were even some Anointed of Ash But there had never been a Chosen of Ash according to the encyclopedia and many Anointed chose never to advance through the third path giving them access to the third challenge although they would not speak of why

Perhaps it was simply the failures of their predecessors but the book described how many speculated there was more to it than that There was a certain set to the eyes of the Anointed that made the writers suspicious But of course this was only speculation and for now Randidly had no proof

There was a small relief it was clear from the texts that only the 1st and 3rd challenges would teleport you to the world of the Patron The 2nd challenge was one that needed to be accomplished where you were So Randidly decided that he would soon try for the Initiate of Ash path

But before that he needed to get through this strange seemingly bugged path Randidly had seen a lot of things about the Nexus and its system that made him think that it was a programed system of some strange extremely esoteric energy language but the more he experienced the more suspicious he was of whether that was all there was to it The Lonesome Spear path made him dubious

And those fingers

One step at a time ever onward Never stopping always advancing and eventually Randidly knew that he would find the answer naturally But right now

Being here among these individuals who had trained since birth under the system where his strength was only that of a Lvl 15 individual and where his skill level was so far below his peers Randidly was still shocked at Shal’s casual reveal When Shal had told him all that time ago that his skill level was around 50 who would have thought that he had meant his lowest and weakest skills As for his strongest skills Spear Mastery was 202 Phantom Thrust was probably even higher

Randidly shivered but he couldn’t help but smile as the knock came on the door to his room

Disciple Come we begin immediately

At the very least it wouldn’t be boring And being here reminded him no matter how far he had already come the path stretched ever onward Randidly stood and walked out to meet Shal

Chapter 141

This fucking asshole cunt the whole reason I ran away from home was to fucking avoid the smell of leather Now he makes me act like a common merchant

The former star disciple of the Iron Spear Style sat still his face studiously blank as he listened to Helen’s relentless tirade Although she had been extremely well spoken around their master for whatever reason Helen continued her constant stream of mutters and hateful whispers around him

I hate its fucking shit color I hate its vomit smell I hate its old people skin feel Leather should be burnt and leather workers put to death Helen glanced quickly over at him and seemed to see right through his carefully maintained facade But if you say anything about it I’ll bite your cock off in your sleep

Her matter of fact delivery would have previously shaken him but these past few days he had dealt with several blows to his ego that left him largely numb This crazy woman’s swarthy threats didn’t really phase him

As she settled into her repeated rant her fingernails scratched at the railing of the boat while their vessel continued to float unimpeded towards the center of Qtal while he just sighed

A simple two days ago he had been unshaken in his belief that he would change the world Then he had encountered not one not two but 3 individuals who made him feel inferior By the time he had regained consciousness Helen had dragged him off the stage and then used him and other wounded bodies as cover in order to hide herself from the vicious swarm of ravenous insects the Ghosthound had somehow summoned

By sheer luck he had been buried underneath Helen’s other victims and had made it out mostly unscathed Any small joy that he would have felt waking up ontop of such a beautiful woman was swiftly wiped away by the horrifying realization of how many people and how quickly Helen had killed individuals from the surrounding crowd to make a pile of bodies she could hide under

It was likely done in a sneak attack but still If these people were taking part in the qualifier they at least had some accomplishments in the art of the spear That she had casually dealt with so many was unnerving

So he swiftly found himself with 4 individuals who he acknowledged as superior But of course at their head was the Ghosthound

A mage who wielded the spear It was a scary combination There were some people on the planet who chose to become mages but they were mostly in support roles strengthening spear users before and during battles Or they became healers But the offensive powers of the Ghosthound’s skills were no joke They shook the former star disciple of the Iron Spear Style to his core

Then promptly after he had staggered out of the rapidly deserting arena he had been waylaid by his former master Egger who publicly humiliated and denounced him casting him out of the Iron Spear Style for publicly humiliating him and putting on such an embarrassing display as vomiting on his own spear

Adding one last insult on top of the heap balanced on his former disciple’s psyche Egger told him that he could keep the spear after all it had been sullied by his filth

For the first time in 3 years he was Styleless Whereas he had previously seen his path to greatness laid out in front of him now he wavered Without access to the Skill Sets of the Iron Spear style becoming stronger on his own would be extremely difficult

Still although he was lying low currently his pride burned hot and angry in his stomach He would persevere He had sought out that strong adversary who had caused him such a great blow because that was the strength he desired The strength to defy expectations and shock the audience

Although he had currently embraced his identity as the male spear attendant that wasn’t a permanent solution This was just a transition phase If nothing else it was clear that both the Ghosthound and his master were unusually strong He would seize that strength and rise higher than the Iron Spear Style ever could carry him he swore to himself and then he could

Oy you two move aside A cold voice spoke and the two spear attendants jumped Divvit slowly stood cracking his neck It appears we finally have encountered our first guest Now the only thing that remains to be seen is who they are here for

Helen bowed smoothly making the male spear attendant’s face twitch but he controlled it barely That girl certainly switched personas quickly once there was an audience Ahead of them the path through the boats had finally been blocked The boat in front of them was a small one only a raft but a bold bright red Tassle hung above 3 men and a woman

For several minutes the two groups the 3 on the boat with Blue and Emerald 4 on the group below the red Tassle just looked at each other as the two boats drifted closer Slowly the male spear attendant realized that the surrounding boats were filling with shifting crowds whose eyes were locked on the two boats

Neither said anything until the wooden boats rammed into each other with a soft knock

As mine is the larger vessel Divvit said his tone of voice making his superiority clear I suppose the guests may come aboard

The male spear attendant’s face remained curious still but Helen snorted The traditional greeting before a challenge was Honored Guests The fact that Divvit chose not to use it was either a slight a comment on the difference in their social statuses or on the difference in their strength But considering the color of their Tassle it was possible that it was all three

The expressions of the 4 from the smaller boat were stony but they ascended up There was silence on the boat Divvit seemed content to remain still despite the new arrivals

Finally the man who appeared to be the leader among the red Tassle group spoke It is unbecoming They both bear the curse of that man And that color is unbecoming

Divvit remained seated not even opening his eyes

The man’s eyes narrowed If you do not willingly sink your Tassle

Then you will do what Divvit opened his eyes and smiled

Randidly’s chest heaved Mrs Hamilton’s exercises had been designed to allow Randidly to slowly push his body to limits forcing his will to rise to the level that he could fully utilize his physical capabilities

Shal it seemed thought this was a weak and inefficient method

True your stats are higher than your level should possess Shal said standing over Randidly’s bruised and battered body But it has made you bold and shallow You have many flashy moves yes You have a Runic Rarity skillset yes But you do not have the weight of training behind your strikes They are light

This is what you must learn How to face foes who possess that strength Rise and receive my spear

Randidly his arms almost buckling raised himself up He could feel that frosted fire in his chest pulsing slowly If nothing else Second Wind Struggle and Bacterial Regeneration were being well worked even if he barely had enough time to use any active skills against Shal’s assault Because when the attacks came they were too much for Randidly to receive

But he still tried his body slowly regenerating his stance settling down to its normal steadiness Then Shal smiled and disappeared

This was truly the difference in levels His Spear Phantom’s Footwork was at a level where Randidly’s eyes couldn’t keep up By the time he could see where Shal had gone Shal had already attacked This was not a way that Randidly could survive

So instead as soon as Shal disappeared Randidly stepped too heading for the spot Shal had left But immediately the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up and Randidly threw himself to the side stepping with the skill as fast as he could manage it

It was not fast enough and Randidly felt his ribs crack as what could only be a spear but felt like a freight train smashed into his side As he was sent tumbling Randidly couldn’t help think back to his experience all those months ago right at the very beginning knocked so casually aside

But although he wasn’t yet the one knocking another casually aside he was still very different than his previous self

Randidly pirouetted on his toes spinning around to regard his attacker Shal was already raising his spear again unrelenting but not before Randidly lashed out using Ghastly Slash which with the bonus of Haste Empower and Mana Strengthening managed to arrive before Shal’s attack

But Shal’s spear seemed to slither upwards knocking Randidly’s attack off to the side and then instantly lashing out towards Randidly’s stomach

Using Phantom Half Step 3 times in a row Randidly managed to open enough space for the attack to miss but as his eyes tried to find Shal’s figure he realized that he had once more disappeared

Trusting an instinct Randidly lashed out behind him using Sweep to smash backwards Shal stepped around the attack like he was strolling through a park and struck Randidly sharply in the shoulder breaking the bone His follow up attack was even more vicious ripping a large gash but Randidly gritted his teeth and stepped into it throwing a desperate punch

Shal seemed to be annoyed by this and his spear ripped upward cutting off half of Randidly’s hand But although it was painful Randidly wasn’t stopping now not with the fire burning in his gut

Settling into those strange stances taught to him by the old turtle Randidly settled his weight took a deep breath and threw a punch with all of his strength behind it The butt of Shal’s spear whipped out cracking the bones of Randidly’s hand but it still had enough force to continue onward and hit Shal in the side

Within a split second another blow descended knocking Randidly to the floor

Shal shook his head sorrowfully You do not know the value of a spear so you easily toss it aside A mistake Without it you are but desperate

The ship rumbled a strange wave of power spreading out from above It was enough that Randidly tensed and sat up even though his ribs protested painfully

What was that Randidly asked

Shal chuckled It is what happens when fools do not know their own strength Ignore it and stand Receive my spear disciple

Chapter 142

Holy bitch that was cool Helen muttered and the male spear attendant was inclined to agree The bodies of the challengers slipped silently below the waves mostly in pieces The Tassle sank into the sea drifting out of sight The opposing side’s boat had been split in half and now was naught but kindling as they continued to drift forward

Divvit hadn’t even stood From his sitting position 3 attacks with his spear with the backing of a powerful Battle Intent to help the weapon strike from afar

If this was the power level of the people on this boat it was no wonder that the Ghosthound had grown as powerful as he had If he now had time to train his spear skills up to a similar point the male spear attendant couldn’t even believe it

Sir He started to say but Divvit shook his head

Mine is not your path I can offer you pointers in your training but you have your own strength But for now simply watch it will be greatly beneficial to you

Watch what The male spear attendant said then flushed at how disrespectful his tone had been But Divvit didn’t appear to mind and only cracked his neck

They were truly trash They wouldn’t have stood in our path if there weren’t other forces moving behind the scenes More will come But still

And I sir Shall I also watch Helen said stepping forward with a smile

Divvit chuckled just try to control yourself alright

Helen’s eyelid twitched and the male spear attendant had to cover up his laugh with a cough

After the 30th time that Shal rushed Randidly and knocked him to the ground after that wave of energy passed Shal finally spoke There that is enough for a warm up Do not forget to continue practicing those strange base building dances They are adequate for a disciple of mine Come

Shal walked out of the training room and down the hall Grunting slightly due to his only partially healed wounds Randidly hobbled after him Shal walked past Shal’s room to a locked door at the end of the boat A simple hand press from Shal caused the lock to click open and Randidly followed him inside seeing another rather large room perhaps even larger than the training room

At the far wall there was a strange glyph 3 meters wide on the ground To the left there was a small prayer mat and a scroll To the right there was a chest

Before you lies the inheritance of the Spear Phantom Style Should you not die someday it will be yours But there are tools here to advance your training which you desperately need But first Shal leveled his gaze at Randidly we must speak about Aether How you become this strong without a Class Tell me

So after a brief consideration Randidly decided to explain his suspicions Shal had saved his life and continually helped him Perhaps this gesture was just that a gesture meant to loosen Randidly’s tongue but Randidly couldn’t understand why Shal would care Or more truthfully with the strength Shal possessed even if he did care it was beneath his notice to do something about it when it involved someone he viewed as poorly as his disciple

So Randidly explained how the winnings from defeating the Dungeon Boss had sustained him and catapulted him forward increasing the speed of his skill leveling Combined with Shal’s tutelage Randidly became strong enough to defeat a Tribulation without the assistance of a village and had forcefully suppressed that strange runic tongue absorbing some of its magic in his body

This magic Randidly suspected included a small Aether Spring Ever since he could slowly feel it growing pulsing within him its tendrils spreading throughout his body Truthfully it seemed to have a very positive impact on the speed of his growth so Randidly was thankful for it But the strange energy filled Randidly with worry

After Randidly finished speaking Shal was silent for a long time Then ponderously he said Do not speak of this again What you say is impossible Aether springs from the World Core and from Villages Above all from the Nexus You cannot hold a source of Aether within you

Shal’s gaze held Randidly’s for a long time and there was a strange warning there Although Shal didn’t know where the threat would come from it was clear he didn’t believe it prudent for Randidly to talk about this again Randidly nodded understanding Then Shal turned back to the room

but let us speak generally of Aether It’s exact composition and formation is unknown but one thing is clear Aether begets Aether In the beginning there was but a speck but as people struggled and fought and channeled its power through themselves it grew That is why villages actively seek out strong individuals as they grow in strength and pull more Aether to themselves they also generate increasing amounts of Aether

Most of this Aether is taken by the village as its toll for the strength that it has given them But some remains All Aether is not created equal Ambient Aether is thin and wild and is not amenable to any but the strongest image You can sustain yourself on it but it is difficult to grow with it Meanwhile Village Aether is much purer although it is thickened in a way due to the obeisance you owe to the village you receive it from It is easy to grow fat on this Aether grow strong but the thickness of it resists images Creating your own skills requires extraordinary willpower Rewards from killing Raid Bosses and Dungeon Bosses is also this type of Aether although that thickness results from the Bosses themselves so it is slightly more desireable

The purest form of Aether the most easily manipulatable so that you might grow along your own path is that Aether you earn for yourself through struggle The little that lodges itself in your body slowly pooling in your organs as you struggle That is the wanting When you want Aether it exists At your level it is but a fraction of a hair but Shal walked to the sigil and carefully inspected it After a few seconds he gestured for Randidly to enter

This is a formation that was constructed by my father at great personal cost Like a dungeon it weakens the connection of those inside to their village through a mild time acceleration formation It will only give you about a 2x dilution but it suffocates the Aether from villages It also disperses ambient Aether so the only Aether remaining to you is the Aether within yourself My father used this to eliminate the impure Aether inside of him and create the skill set that earned him the name Spear Phantom He created all 6 moves in a single sitting over 6 days

Shal flexed his hand and a huge black spear appeared It was almost 3 meters long and was formed of obsidian Although this is ostentatious its balance is true and its power should not be trifled with Train with this What you need is repetition to find the image you need for your moves Search for it As your body is starved from Aether you will discover your own path

Randidly took the spear and staggered The weight was ridiculous Based on how trivially Shal had held it his physical stats must be staggering It was no wonder that he didn’t even need to rely on skills to crush him

I will deactivate the formation in an hour There is one other tool here you may use but first you must know this peculiarity Good Luck

Pressing down with his hand Shal caused the runes of the glyph to slowly light up A fog rose and Shal seemed to fade away Randidly turned around curiously but everything faded to darkness All he could see was the glyph beneath him lighting up the thick fog that rose to his calves seeming to spread infinitely in every direction

Shrugging Randidly hefted the spear and got to work To his mind there was only one choice Phantom Thrust So in the strange half gloom he began to thrust again and again After a few minutes of this Randidly decided to summon a Root Spider so he didn’t disturb the formation underneath him and then created a Root Avatar with Root Control on top of it

Satisfied Randidly did this 3 more times Then he began to fall into a familiar rhythm of breathing striking breathing striking adjusting his form All the while he was pondering what Shal had said about Aether and images If the source of the Aether influenced the image wouldn’t that mean that his Aether if it really came from a spring inside of him would already be predisposed towards his images

Wondering whether the 4 individuals connected to him by the unique skill could also benefit from that Randidly continued to use Phantom Thrust Whereas Randidly had previously focused on speed and suddenness Shal’s use helped him realize that that would come with time The increased skill level would naturally add speed and weight What he needed to do with his image was not to address execution but flavor And then he had to want it powerfully desiring that image

But first while he was considering these things he needed to work through the ambient Aether in his body And Randidly felt slightly stupid doing so because for a long time nothing happened He just trained It wasn’t boring but it was frustrating because Randidly wasn’t sure what he was waiting for Was it perhaps impossible for him to receive the benefit of this

Still he persevered and after around 40 minutes he felt it A strange tightness in his chest like his lungs couldn’t inhale as much oxygen as they had previously But it wasn’t an oxygen problem His body started to tremble slightly as he continued to train His body urged him to hyperventilate but Randidly squashed that instinct After all it would do nothing to address this problem

Just when he started to feel woozy and began to wonder whether he had taken this too lightly the Aether in his chest began to pulse Softly at first then with increasing fierceness fighting back the weakness Waves of ice and fire pulsed outward making all of Randidly’s limbs tingle Every breath he took now was like plunging his chest into a frozen river and then hopping out onto a bed of coals

His body began to sweat unused to the strange feelings

Although it was extremely distracting Randidly tried to ignore the sensations of the Aether moving within him thrashing around through his body He raised his spear once more

The image the image

Forward Always forward Without relenting His path was his own and he needed to walk it

Randidly thrust and the Aether within him seemed to thrum The sensations intensified and there were pins and needles of ice sliding in and out of the muscles of his arms and shoulders The thrumming grew stronger and stronger and seemed to howl Forward Forward Forward

As his head began to pound Randidly let the root avatars fall away and just concentrated on his spear imbuing every inch of it with his will He felt that strange hazy green energy around it which he believed was his Battle Intent but ignored that for now focusing solely on the spear That image of advancing it was a little unrefined

So Randidly closed his eyes and saw Shal’s Phantom Thrust not the speed nor the power but how the spear in his hand always seemed to be thrusting How the thrust was inevitable How it would advance no matter the cost

The Aether continued to thrum and the pain in Randidly’s forehead continued to grow

Thrust

Sweat dripped down but Randidly didn’t even notice His eyes were closed and he slowly closed down all of his sensory information ignoring it all trying to avoid the chaotic Aether within him focusing on the feeling of that huge spear in his hands

Chapter 143

Shal did not tell his disciple this but he had lied to him he would not be within the formation for a single hour but for 6 hours For his disciple this would be 12 hours of hell Well if he chose that path If he was cautious 12 hours was about the amount of time it took to deplete the ambient Aether in your body if you were not exerting yourself

The point of this 12 hour period was twofold First was to force the boy to confront his own Aether and push him beyond the point his body could stand This would have tremendous positive benefits for his training if he could harness it Especially if what he said was true and that somehow he was a walking village in terms of Aether

What would that mean for his ability to use an image to shape Aether

Even Shal who had long assumed his heart had stiffened and died in a way felt some inkling of excitement If he was really carrying this blessing his disciple needed to get as strong as possible before others discovered it and it became a curse

Another wave of power exploded above but Shal ignored it Divveltian should have no trouble dealing with enemies who came this early He was one of the few spear users who hadn’t received any status designations from the school but Shal’s father had still been cautious around

But Shal knew in his heart that Divveltian was far above the level of the common Artisan Qtal was not a town that could easily push Divveltian around

The second reason that Shal put his disciple into the formation for a longer time was a more cold and calculating reason He had said it multiple times but his disciple did not seem to get it the enemies that would come would be far above his level His disciple had some tricks and a knack for survival but their strength would be at the level that he wouldn’t have that chance

What they needed was the disciple to find a powerful image of the spear and for the time to perfect it This 12 hour period would completely deplete the impure Aether in his body giving him the best chance to develop a powerful image Although there was also a high risk of death Shal was not one to worry overmuch

If his disciple was too weak it was better that he die now before Shal risked overmuch to help him For Shal knew of an answer to the time dilution problem But it would be difficult extremely so and pose extreme risk with Shal bearing most of the risk Even if it worked Shal might be completely out of commission for a long time In the larger city they would need to go to to perform this plan both the people who resented the Spear Phantom Style and Rainbow Hunters would be more common Without Shal’s strength

Even he who knew he was about the Adept level of strength felt some fear in his heart at the thought of such weakness

But Shal’s eyes burned as he stared into the formation He was unable to see his disciple but he wished very strongly for him to succeed

Not for the Style not for the health of his disciple but due to a name he had buried deep within his heart Lucrecia And thanks to Egger Shal now had a location

His father’s actions had earned Shal many things but part of the settlement with the other Schools was that the travel of the Spear Phantom Style be restricted to only the area controlled by the Spearman School who defended them So Shal needed a reasonable ticket to leave their area

Like a disciple who was traveling to enter a distant tournament

It was almost a pipe dream at this point His disciple had struggled at the Qualifier for the Regional Tournament After that was still the Regional Tournament where the true competitors who had been preparing will be waiting At that tournament the top 4 would get a ticket to the Spearman School Hall of Stances and then

Then those 4 as well as the other groups of 4 from the other Spearman School regions would travel to the All School Tournament Which was being hosted by the Death School

Top 4 huh It seemed impossible to Shal but his disciple had an almost infectious optimism about him Besides their current goal was top 8 anyways Just one more win

Shal would risk anything for that win Even the lives of himself and his weak disciple

Lucrecia you cannot run from me forever

Time dragged on and everything began to blur for Randidly Everything began to revolve around the spear He saw it even with his eyes closed It grew and it grew distant like the way your limbs felt when you sat alone in a dark room with your eyes closed

It was strange and weird but Randidly didn’t let that perturb him he simply held the spear and thrusted forward Aether writhing through his body as he moved

The thrust was inevitable it was instant time

Randidly paused hesitating Time huh

His mind moving rapidly in spite of the vicious pain in his forehead Randidly could picture his spear moving so fast that it seemed to move slow somehow bending the laws of time Or using time to simply speed up the time it took for his spear to arrive before his target

But after a few seconds he shook his head banishing that image That wasn’t his spear It was inevitable It wasn’t that his spear used time to its advantage

But that the attack was inevitable and irresistible like time It was coming it was just a matter of time There was a countdown

Randidly thrust out again his spear speed much slower than it was previously The Aether inside of him quivered strangely as if confused

In fact it was possible that his spear actually hurt him with its image of time Trading off the unpredictability and speed for power Randidly thrust again the spear seeming to slow even further

But as he did so he felt instinctively that the attack seemed more like a phantom Drifting and slow sure but when it arrived

As the thrust was fully extended the air seemed to hum with the violent power of the thrust Randidly drew the spear back and thrust again

It was almost if the time power even let the enemy know far in advance that it was coming

The air hummed

But it was an unstoppable force when it arrived

The air crackled and hissed

Again and again Randidly thrust and the Aether inside of him began to move Where before it was icy needles now it was like there was an inexhaustible furnace within his chest belching out smog and heat his body beginning to feel hot and strange his head fuzzy

But he forced himself to continue thrusting again and again Only through repetition of this feeling would he find his answer Randidly wasn’t sure how much time remaining in here he had and wasn’t sure whether it was having an effect on gaining skill levels but it certainly was doing something to his Aether And that something was narrowing his focus to a razor edge

Even as his insides began to feel bone dry and as inhospitable as a desert Randidly thrust his spear now making strange crackling noises as it exploded with force

His eyes glowing emerald Randidly felt the image The inevitable nature of time It approaches sweeping us all away it affects us all it is the the strongest weapon The sharpest spear

For some further amount of time Randidly continued to thrust His chest was a burning volcano The Aether bubbled within him mixing and swirling in strange shapes It was almost unbearable the pain approaching the level of having Shal dump acid inside his body

Then Randidly slowed thoughtful It seemed at present that he had reached the limit of what he could do with this image And it was probably a bad idea to continue to refine this without first checking with Shal Randidly didn’t want to proceed too far down an incorrect path And while he was still within the focused state

Before anything else Randidly sat for a few minutes and let the thundering in his head subside a bit The Aether continued to roil around in him unpleasantly but without him focusing strongly on something it just seemed to flail almost listless

After a suitable amount of time Randidly stood and then began to move through the strange stances taught to him by that old turtle At this point Randidly could persist through one complete circuit of the first exercise and almost all the way through the second The third was still far beyond him

Still Aether swirled lazily down into his legs feeling like a cool refreshing stream driving away the exhaustion Randidly could see what he wanted the image he had since the turtle had done this It was one of the first things he had gained from the system roots

Randidly pictured his legs as ineffable roots thick and durable and sturdy glowing golden with life so strong that it seemed like they would never be shaken Roots so large and strong that they supported a tree strong enough to hold up the sky That was the strength he wanted Privately in his mind he said the word that described what the tree would be

Yggdrasil His legs his base would be the roots that could hold up Yggdrasil the World Tree

That was what he was seeking that strength With it even if his spear skills were below his opponents he would not falter He would not struggle His base was endless His roots stretched so deeply into the earth beneath him that he could not be shaken Energy and life flowed upwards giving him substance He would be eternal

Randidly smoothly moved from the first movement to the second one his legs beginning to tremble Aether surged downward an ice cold river that would grab you and pull you under The kind parents warned their children away from

As he focused on these huge golden roots Randidly moved through the second movement the shaking getting worse But although his chest heaved and large drops of sweat dripped down his face he didn’t cease as he moved his body strangely skittering and scuttling working every part of his thighs and hips

Like a crashing wave he finished the second movement and began the third He struggled onward for several seconds The ice cold Aether sloshed around his legs swirling and probing drawing sigils

But then the wave ran out of momentum and sloshed backwards

Randidly collapsed but he was laughing

Just a bit more He muttered Just a bit longer

Chapter 144

Shal opened his eyes putting his thoughts to the side It was nearly time It was impossible to see what was happening through the thick formations that choked off all outward sources of Aether so it was possible that the disciple had foolishly spent his Aether early on and had since died His body would be perfectly preserved but the spark of his life

It would be a disappointment now as Shal had spent this time gathering his thoughts for how they could manage to pull this off And how he could convince Divveltian to lend them his aid With his help it was possible to pull it off

For the first time in a long time Shal felt a pang of regret that so many bridges had been built and then burnt by his father Very few of their older allies remained well disposed towards them They would effectively be on their own without the aid of any local powers

Sensing time was up Shal prepared to lower the formation

Thank you senior The male spear attendant said bowing It was truly helpful to see your strength

Divvit snorted No need to flatter But fine I suppose I could give you some pointers from time to time Assume a stance

Excited the male spear attendant did so Very carefully and slowly Divvit explained what he knew of the Iron Spear Style its strengths and weaknesses and what he saw in the male spear attendant Honestly the amount of information and insight that he so casually displayed was incredible

Then even more incredible Divvit began describing an image and movement that could possibly turn into a great skill if he had a spare skill for it

The male spear attendant nodded excitedly

Then all that remains Divvit said Is to strike Focus on the image Feel its truth in your body And move If you want it enough the world will respond

The male spear attendant raised his spear but then hesitated These past few days everything that shook his confidence he had pressed it down tightly binding it into a ball Then he maneuvered that ball of tight emotion and put it in the tip of his spear An iron defense and impenetrable strike

A split second before the male spear attendant moved a very peculiar thing happened A strange chaotic burst of energy came from below thick and wild It rampaged upwards and everywhere sinking into the bodies of everyone on the ship almost immediately filling them up with a powerful ferocity and focus

Eyes bright with confidence the male spear attendant struck his spear smoothly rushing forward For whatever reason with that energy filling him he could feel the image A fortress of invulnerable iron Although many have tried to raze it they would only crash against it and fall away

Bulwark of Iron He shouted his cry clear and bright

To his surprise and joy after his strike surged outwards a notification popped up in front of him

Ahahahaha Finally He said excitedly This is just proof this is just the proof I need My strength is without equal A move has been created by I Ro

The deck of the ship was blasted upwards knocking the male spear attendant unconscious

Helen paled seeing the ground explode underneath them What the hell were those idiots doing And this energy could it be

But then she saw two unconscious bodies tumbling through the air One was her fellow spear attendant who was an idiot The other was the Ghosthound Without a second thought she rushed across the boat and leapt up catching the Ghosthound cradling him in her arms as she dropped onto the deck of a nearby boat

As she landed she was almost surprised by how light he was It was easy to forget that although the was tall and his eyes seemed to burn with an intense light he was still just a spear user their age albeit with an ideal body for the spear His hands were large and his limbs were long His shoulders were much wider than hers and his stance was exceptionally low and strong when he attacked

He was Helen admitted to herself a good source of genes for her children if nothing else So Helen had followed an impulse and became his spear attendant

Returning to the boat Helen laid him lightly down on the ground very gently This asshole was probably responsible for the explosion but she studiously controlled any anger she felt It would be simpler if she didn’t display her more extreme side around him

How strange it was that she ran away from home to avoid being tied down by a family as part of a merger between two leatherworking empires but now she found herself with prospects that made her seriously consider seducing him

But then those thoughts fell away as she straightened and summoned her spear Because right now

It was hard to describe She struck forward then moved smoothly into her next stance then into the third stance Extremely slowly she straightened Suddenly flaws in her movements were quite clear She moved through her flowing stances again And then again Then again

Her face grave she continued through her stances for another minute as the last of that energy dissipated from her body It was Aether for sure And

An Aether so pure it seemed impossible She had gained 5 skill levels in each of her three moves over the past few minutes The first 3 skill levels happened the first 3 times she moved after she had the insight into her previous flaws This kind of power

It seemed that she wasn’t the only one that noticed because people were coming to the decks of nearby boats looking over at them with serious expressions Even Divvit the old fart had moved moving a finger back and forth lightly

Shal appeared on deck and he and Divvit exchanged a serious glance But they didn’t speak instead Shal walked over to the Ghosthound then looked down at him

You fucking dimwit

His voice was angry but Helen was near to them and could see Shal’s face It was twisted in a manic smile his teeth clenched in a dead simulacrum of a smile Any other would just assume something had gone wrong in training but the way Shal was looking at the Ghosthound it was the way a wolf looked at a fat sheep Shal was definitely pleased by something

Then Shal abruptly straightened and Helen blinked

Two figures had simply appeared on a small boat to the side of their group’s boat a bobbing sudden neighbor The large light blue Tassle of the Crashing Wave Style hung above the two figures the man slight and silver haired the woman huge and broad

Greetings The man spoke softly his voice smooth

Divvit stood and bowed Honored guest would you bless our vessel with your presence

The man’s eyes slid over the scattered boards and gaping hole left in the deck I think not We were just out for a stroll

Then the man breathed deeply through his nose A good breeze over here Until next we meet friends Then the small boat carrying the two turned and began to float away boats hastily pushing themselves apart to allow them through

Helen scratched her head What the fuck had just fucking happened

Shal looked at his disciple who appeared to still be sleeping peacefully The memories were still fresh in his mind of what had happened an hour earlier as he had lowered the formations that surrounded his disciple

As the formations slowly began to be disabled there was a strange resistance They were running mostly off energy from Shal himself so he was a little stumped as to why the formation persisted after he had cut off its energy supply He supposed that he had never been the one to run the formation for another for such a long period of time so perhaps he had given it too much energy previously

So he reached out with his will and pressed the formations out of existence the light flickering out of them

What he was greeted by was a huge wave of energy that crashed into him as the sweating but standing form of Randidly was revealed Energy surged around Randidly swirling his dark hair and making the air around him almost glow

Seemingly surprised Randidly looked up then smiled lopsidedly and said Shal I think I found a new image Let me know what you think

His disciple immediately lowered his stance and then took a fighting stance Before it even happened Shal’s instincts warned him that a thrust would be coming And a second later it rolled forward smooth and even and strangely slow But as Shal witnessed this spear thrust his eyes couldn’t help but shoot open

That spear

In that spear he could see the cruel smile of his father All his confidence fled his body and for a brief moment he trembled But instinct was more powerful than fear and Shal stepped forward and knocked his disciple up in the air before he could complete that spear thrust Such was his haste that he used perhaps too much strength smashing his disciple’s body up through the deck and into the air

It suddenly struck Shal that the thick energy around his disciple was Aether A thick and wild Aether that seemed to fill his body and whisper possibilities of strength So it seemed that his disciple was honest if doomed If the big Styles figured out about how this was possible to hold in the body

Forget even the larger threat of some system based life form coming to deal with this deviation the people on this planet would kill for the power that his disciple possessed in his body

The detecting and arriving of the Crashing Wave Style so quickly was chilling And from the stance of their leader he was aware that somehow a huge burst of very pure Aether came from this boat Their intentions were peaceful right now but if push came to shove Shal narrowed his eyes and calmed his breathing Perhaps it was good to leave then And the Aether in his disciple’s body gave him hope Perhaps he would get the chance at his long awaited revenge

Chapter 145

Randidly stirred then sat bolt upright What

So you finally wake Hmph well it is good you didn’t perish but you also did not make things any easier for us The formation will be of no more use It will take more time to repair

Randidly opened his mouth then hesitated paling He had damaged the formation That was honestly terrible because although the feeling of Aether that he experienced in there was painful it had been oddly invigorating

Thinking about it Randidly turned his attention inward It seemed that although Aether had definitely spread throughout him with more spindly branches extending into his arms and especially his legs it had fallen back into a dormant state It moved but extremely slowly pulsing only intermittently

Turning his attention to Shal Randidly noticed that he didn’t seem to be that upset that the formation was damaged In fact he almost seemed cheery

Standing Shal gestured and Randidly followed him out of the room with the inheritances For tonight rest and train your other skills

Randidly was slightly amused that he seemed unwilling to refer directly to the usefulness of his spells but he let it slide

Shal continued Tomorrow we will continue with training In the evenings instead of the formation you shall make use of the 2nd of the tools left behind by my father his journal During the night you will be free to continue your other pursuits Within a week we will leave to train at a more advantageous location Settle your affairs you will return strong or in a coffin

And with that Shal left him alone

After a nervous chuckle at the foreboding things Shal had said Randidly sat down and addressed his notifications It seemed the creation of his skill based on the movements had reached 80% which meant it might be possible to push towards creating the move within the week before Shal whisked him off to whatever dangerous location he had in mind for the training

The second notification caught and held Randidly’s attention

Due to your strong image the skill Phantom Thrust can be changed Do you wish to merge the image into the skill Warning based on the quality of the components efficacy of the skill or the image may decrease Do you still wish to continue

Perhaps it would be smart to wait but

Randidly stood and thrust forward The spear was slow and steady but when it finished a wave of force spread outward in every direction buzzing like a deep bass note Even Randidly’s bones vibrated slightly through the force

He also had Sweep and Ghastly Slash Sacrificing some of the speed for a move powerful enough to finish fights and force others to back off appealed to Randidly after being on the losing end of his conflict with Tertet He selected yes

Congratulations Your skill Phantom Thrust Lvl 70 has changed to The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Lvl 35 (Un) Half of the benefits of skill levels retained Skill levels will be slightly easier to gain until the level of the new skill rivals that of the old skill

Congratulations Your skill has become a skill with an Uncommon Rarity Continue to explore further You will find that uncommon starting places generate uncommon paths

Randidly hefted his spear and looked at the sharp obsidian tip The Inevitable Phantom Arrives huh Perhaps that really was the image that he had Always advancing always approaching This Phantom could not be avoided

Also the notification from the system was cute that it encouraged him to create more skills of different rarities and then use their paths But he already had a Runic rarity move It was just far more difficult than he had expected to level it resulting in not really having access to that path yet But it was good to know that path would probably be worth it

Then Randidly turned to the skill notifications He had gained 2 Lvls in Spear Mastery and Spear Phantom’s Footwork 3 in Iron Skin and Dodge (likely from Shal’s earlier beatings) 1 in Haste 2 in Empower 2 in Battle Intent 4 in Struggle 1 in Root Control and Plantomancy 1 in Potion Making 3 in Mana Engraving 3 in Physical Fitness 4 in Meditation 1 in Pain Resistance (It was good to see that the Aether really did cause actual pain) 4 in Bacterial Regeneration and Mental Fortitude and finally 5 in Second Wind

Because most of his time in the formation was used to train up his Phantom Thrust which transformed and the leg exercises it didn’t seem like he had gained much from his time there But it appeared that his regenerative stats had improved due to the brutal style of training that Shal employed

There was a little bit of regret in Randidly’s heart that he hadn’t used that time to develop images for more things especially things that would have resulted in noticeable increases but he set that to the side It wasn’t worth it to dwell on what might have been Better to focus on how things had changed for the better

Shal had been tight lipped about his move that he used but he had indicated he could continue training with it That acknowledgement was worlds ahead of the previous attitude Shal had towards him Honestly he was a pretty poor instructor but he was fair and thorough so Randidly couldn’t fault him too much Besides Randidly admitted in his heart that Shal’s teaching style was almost exactly what he needed to progress so things worked out

From these skill levels Randidly had 47 PP Inwardly he was quite pleased because it would finally be enough to finish off this strange Lonesome Spear path that had appeared within him There had only been the health mana and stamina benefits thus far but it seemed impossible to him those strange powerful hands would create a useless Path within him

So he put the 27 PP needed to finish it off into the path and looked at the flickering notification

Congratulations You have completed the Lonesome Spear Path You hold a spear and walk forward All else is left behind on your journey forward The sky above you shifts restlessly &()#() #( #(RQ#( # (# )#( (# DSF)# (#) A(#) (#( ()#& ( # )(+ )# # K #P(#) # (email protected) # ## # # (email protected)# OL) #(email protected) # (email protected) D

Randidly looked dumbfounded at the notification There was no reward at all But more than that what were those characters And they ended in an emoji

But before he could truly process what had happened his body shuddered That tightly packed ball of Aether exploded surging outward in three huge torrents The first torrent curled upwards winding itself into a spiral that tightly packed itself even more compact and compressed than the original Path had been This small little pellet hovered above the place where his Soul Skill still rotated and was still

The two other streams of Aether expanded twisting and shifting finally settling down in his stomach area where his skills resided Slowly settling the two morphed and shifted until they resembled the skills around them and ceased Curious Randidly prodded them with his focus and nothing happened

Then he focused more intently on those two shapes and two explanations came up

The Weeping Cloud ® Lvl 1 Conjure a small cloud that weeps Those who are touched by the cloud’s tears will experience increased health regeneration and have status ailments alleviated Concentration and Mental Clarity will increase outside influences will be wiped away Size of cloud and efficacy of effects increase with skill level Control increases with skill level

Weather Affinity Lvl 1 Read the winds allowing you to determine the weather and climate in moments Affinity to the natural world and effect increases with skill level

The sky above me shifts restlessly Huh Randidly said with narrowed eyes Neither skill appeared very useful and both seemed difficult to level It would probably provide additional PP over the long haul He supposed the Cloud skill referenced increased focus and mental clarity which might be useful but again these were purely supplemental skills

Randidly supposed he shouldn’t be too greedy He had finally found a new offensive move to call his own and Shal planned on training him over the course of the next two months or something Randidly wasn’t really sure how the time frame really worked There were times when he realized how oblivious he was and how it was slightly unfortunate

Checking his available paths Randidly realized that he hadn’t received anything new After considering for a while Randidly chose to finally begin the Path of Carnage Paths The first one revealed itself to be to 25 and Randidly had 20 PP remaining almost filling it up Every 5 he received a point in strength which was a pleasant surprise after the previous path that ended up being rather disconcerting

Randidly focused his attention inward once more Perhaps it was this small pellet by his Soul Skill which was the real prize But as he examined it and nothing happened he could only sigh The world didn’t revolve around him after all Maybe it was all just a weird coincidence or a mistake

Randidly walked up to the deck The male spear attendant who Randidly still didn’t know the name of was busy being bossed around by Divvit being forced to repair the deck Randidly avoided them heading to the other side

Sitting down cross legged Randidly took a deep breath enjoying the cool night air and the scent of salt water beneath them

A notification popped up that his Weather Affinity had increased a level startling Randidly and then he chuckled realizing he hadn’t yet taken the potion in a while As he removed the strange small black potion he couldn’t help but wonder about it It seemed almost endless the weird liquid that flowed out and into his mouth in exact measurements And somehow after all this time it didn’t seem depleted at all He tried to peer down the neck but all he saw was black

This really couldn’t be healthy but Randidly had a hard time worrying about it after taking it for this long and not experiencing any ill effects He took his daily drink and then placed it back in his interspatial ring

Chapter 146

Afterwards Randidly reached inward and activated his new skill the Weeping Cloud For several seconds nothing happened but as Randidly looked up he saw that a cloud was slowly forming above him His eyebrows rose continuously for the next minute as his mana continued to tick downward syphoned off to form this cloud above him Only after it had taken 1000 mana did it cease leaving him with barely any mana remaining

As he produced a mana potion and raised it to his lips Randidly said Weeping cloud More like greedy cloud

The cloud itself was very small just about the size of their boat and from it raindrops began to fall little pinpricks of liquid that pattered against the deck around him Randidly closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation It was truly profoundly refreshing Due to the fact that he had used it over here on the far side of the boat he was the only one that was hit by the rain The boats around them still parted allowing them to drift further inward Divvit and the spear attendant were working at the far side out of the area of the rain

For several minutes Randidly just breathed and meditated enjoying the feeling of relaxing It had been a long time since he had felt so at peace Randidly thought it was odd but he supposed that if this was just a way to stabilize his mental health after the brutal training he would be doing that might be effect enough

Strangely as he sat there sitting in the rain waiting for his mana to recover Randidly realized that he missed cooking If he hadn’t chosen this path to power and strength it might have been interesting to just focus on Cooking as a skill seeing how far he could push it It was a fun thought experiment imagining a life spent pursuing the limits of Cooking He even received the very useful Grace from Cooking

After all Randidly started out with farming and cross breeding creating new varieties of plants to help him survive in that dungeon He could create both the ultimate ingredients and the ultimate process to cook them All and all it would be an extremely rewarding lifestyle in its way

Of course that was not Randidly’s path

It was not that he didn’t want it It was that it would never be enough to satisfy him now after all that he had experienced The system wanted to force him to a village to find a class The people here believed that he wouldn’t be able to compete at the level of this tournament He had chosen a color that brought shame to this world and Hunters wanted to slay him and mount his Tassle on their mantle

Although right now he was relying on Shal and Divvit it left Randidly with an increasingly sour taste in his mouth especially after he had been so self reliant in the days he spent with Donnyton He didn’t want to have to rely on anyone else By only using his own strength he wanted to show everyone that they were wrong He wanted to show that his path would lead higher than anyone else’s

One step at a time though Surrounded by the falling rain Randidly produced a leather bracer and a needle Then he began to Engrave The soft rain continued to fall around him cooling him

Helen sat in the shadows of the deck watching the man that she had chosen to enter the service of He was really fucking weird

He walked up on deck breathed a bit sat down appeared to have summoned a small rain cloud and was now Engraving armor Helen had of course known that he could do some of these things The Ghosthound was strangely competent and that is one of the reasons she was willing to enter his service

But he wasn’t like any of the others she had met that had thought themselves spear prodigies arrogant to a fault completely unrealistic about their own strength And of course in some ways he wasn’t different In spite of the level of the Regional Tournament being worlds ahead of the qualifier he didn’t seem fearful or anxious He wasn’t even training in the spear right now just Engraving

Boldly and in the open too Which was sorta fucking idiotic The Ghosthound didn’t seem to understand the danger that being seen Engraving would mean for them all The Guilds took that very seriously Their monopoly was very important to them

Helen crept closer walking quietly It was a skill she had to learn growing up as a member of a subordinate leather working family who served a prominent Style Maybe that was the reason that she so quickly found herself as a spear attendant after she ran away from her family to avoid a marriage This was just all she knew Service

But there was something different about this one He was pure and focused and didn’t seem to take any pleasure in the trappings of strength He had even seemed profoundly shocked when they had asked to be his spear attendants Since then he hadn’t really required anything of them either besides the dealing with the sweaty merchant

He also didn’t talk much which Helen liked

She took another step forward and felt the raindrops on her skin She looked up frowning but as the rain continued to land on her her frown slowly faded away It felt nice Natural and free this rain in a way she hadn’t really encountered since she was a child Like all there was in the world to worry about was playing in the puddles and throwing handfuls of mud

Holy fuck She sighed but then was startled out of her reverie by laughter Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at the Ghosthound a split second later forcing her expression to careful neutrality If this motherfucker was laughing at her

But the Ghosthound hadn’t appeared to have even noticed her presence he was smiling down at the bracer in his hands For several seconds he simply stared at it his green eyes bright and fierce as he looked down at the bracer Then he looked up and blinked surprised to see Helen

Satisfied he wasn’t making fun of her (for all the Ghosthound’s strange gifts subtlety wasn’t one of them) she smiled sweetly back at him She was surprised how genuine it felt and was even more surprised at the small tug of pleasure in her heart as he beckoned her over

Come look at this He said excitedly I had no idea the efficacy would increase so sharply What do you think

Helen walked over and took the bracer and then inspected it Her eyebrows rose very quickly Holy spear fucking shit

what The Ghosthound said looking bewildered Helen quickly blushed and smiled as prettily as she could inwardly sweating

My apologies I I sneezed This is impressive And it really was Not for the armor but for the engraving

Apprentice’s Leather Bracer Lvl 25 Leather armor worked by an Apprentice but made with poor materials Vit +2 Health +25 Rain Engraved I

Engraving of Dragonfly 61% The wind seems to move with the wearer aiding in both attack and defense speed Wearer gains Aspect of Dragonfly II

Aspect of Dragonfly II Reaction +2 Agility +5

Rain Engraved I The Engraver is developing his own personal process of Engraving and benefits begin to accrue within the armor Mana +5 Focus +1

More than anything however Helen’s reaction to the armor was one of fear The Engraving guilds probably wouldn’t mind extremely cheap knockoffs where the user only received 1 or 2 extra points from an engraving It would annoy them and they would move to deal with it but it would be a leisurely thing

But this equipment his engraving added 2 Reaction 5 Agility 1 Focus and 5 Mana A person might not notice when equipment had an extra one or two points of something but when it neared 10 Anyone would be interested in it even if it wasn’t in the Attributes that they relied on most frequently After all all of the attributes were tied into each other and unless the circumstances were extremely contrived all were useful in battle

Still the Ghosthound stood in front of her a childish grin on his face as he looked at her It seemed he was waiting for more of a response so she said it is quite impressive but do you not worry about the engraving guilds They do not take kindly to others performing their services

His green eyes flashing the Ghosthound just laughed and turned away My path is always forward I won’t worry about it until the obstacle is before me I’ve got enough on my plate as it is Good impressive good

He left humming to himself and Helen sat very still for a while Then she looked up and smiled enjoying the feel of the soft rain It really made her feel relaxed for the first time in a long time Perhaps it was a good thing that she had ended up here

Chapter 147

The days began to run together for Randidly except for one time period the afternoons when he read the diary of the man who would become the Spear Phantom It was slow going because the words seemed to flicker and burn Before his clash with Dian Randidly would have been rather confused about it but now it was clear to him that there was an extremely powerful Battle Intent suffusing the entire book And it was an intent thick with death The first page described the Phantom Thrust in detail and Randidly was chilled by his reading

You are an instrument and the thrust is a natural extension of something much larger than you You are not the message of death but you are the final reminder Know this you bear the spear but in Death’s eyes the victim is already dead You must thrust and remind them of their final and ultimate failure

When Randidly was away from the book although this first passage was extremely strange it wasn’t so bad to think about But with the book in hand the air seemed to howl with the fury and resentment of deceased souls The cold hand of death settled on his shoulders as he read

By the end of reading that first passage Randidly always had a pounding headache and Shal would take away the book

You are too weak to continue further But now you see the image it takes to be strong

There was always a stiffness in Shal’s voice and Randidly had almost asked what his relationship with his father was and what happened to him But the words never made it past his lips He wasn’t sure if it was the set of Shal’s shoulders or Randidly’s own keep to himself personality but he never asked Instead he just nodded and rubbed his head

It was true though the fact that the image was so strong even now was a testament to its overwhelming power It wasn’t just that the image was clear or focused but the entire thing was filled with an unbelievable amount of detail The texture the sound the visions they all were burned in Randidly’s retinas and hung in the air after the book was taken away seeming to linger That was the level of a powerhouse even in this power focused world

It was that level of image that he needed to reach In a way it was natural for Randidly to base his image off of that But whereas Shal’s father had chosen Death Randidly chose Time as the ultimate source of the image Which seemed to make finding a concrete image much more difficult but hopefully Randidly would be able to manage it

In addition Randidly borrowed from the name the system had given his skill the Inevitable Phantom Arrives So when he focused on recovering after reading from the book Randidly conjured images He placed himself on a giant clock Smaller clocks hovered around and below him ticking

Then those clocks stilled and fell silent and the giant clock began to chime shuddering into motion The howling became audible then as a ghastly presence began to swirl far behind him Slowly but surely the giant clock chimes became more ominous and attention began to focus inward on the spear in his hand as it slid forward And as it began to advance that howling grew more vicious and a hungry spectre raced forward at first a tiny speck in the distance but then growing far larger than a man or a car or even a building

Until all that the victim could see was the open maw and the noise was a harmony between the final chime of the clock and the howling of the spectre It took some time but Randidly could feel the Aether in his chest moving as he pictured it Perhaps this would cause the strength of the move to rise another level

So Randidly demonstrated the new image to Shal What followed was the longest and most brutal beating that Randidly had ever received Although he had always known that Shal was strong and fast he hadn’t truly known HOW strong and fast Most of the time Shal was just trying to move just a bit faster with just a bit more strength than Randidly forcing him to his limits and then beating him into the ground

Of course it was always violent because Shal wanted him to realize how dangerous it was to play when fighting When you fought you aimed to kill Or you made a mistake and died So Randidly had grown used to beatings

But this

There were several points when Randidly honestly believed he was about to die He wavered on the edge close to using spells but although his health was brought below 100 and most of his bones were broken Shal made no move to capitalize This wasn’t the normal training Randidly realized It was a lesson that Shal was carving into his body with pain

At the end Shal stood over Randidly with his arms folded Your move is already too slow idiot disciple You are yet weak don’t overcomplicate things If you have spare time to think of extra things we perhaps need more training such as this

Then he walked away Needless to say Randidly admitted that it was perhaps a little unrealistic to try and raise the strength of his image all at once like that Better to focus on one thing and to improve it slowly So Randidly removed most of the images but kept the numerous ticking clocks and also the looming phantom But he lessened the size until it was about the size of person

He made the body look human with half of the face bone and on an instinct the other half feminine As he examined the face his chest tightened Sitting in his inward world looking at the image he had for that skill Randidly looked into a very familiar half face

Sydney He whispered The ghastly spectre smiled Randidly raised his hand and banished the image deconstructing it True Sydney was likely dead but that didn’t mean he wanted her image to haunt him Instead when Randidly created the image for the second time he still stuck with a feminine face but chose his mother

And as he looked at the finished product he felt the change Where it hadn’t been there before the inevitable dread the image caused in the viewer’s chest had grown The air was filled with helplessness Just like Randidly was helpless to prevent his mother from drinking and pilling herself into the arms of men his entire childhood

The more he brooded on it the stronger the swirl of helplessness around his spear became So although it infuriated him to no end to see her and to be partially reliant on her Randidly left the image of the spectre with his mother’s face It was about time she did something for him

The rest of the time during that week was the morning training sessions and the evening magic and Engraving sessions In addition during what spare time he had Randidly would watch Divvit dispatch more challengers or give Randidly’s two spear attendants pointers

It really seemed that many people had problems with them but as Randidly watched more and more he realized that he really wasn’t the target the entire Spear Phantom Style was It seemed that Shal’s father had done something to piss off quite a lot of people because more and more challenges were coming Luckily these were still just probes and no one at even the Artisan level had arrived But to Randidly it seemed like only a matter of time

His Engraving continued to improve but it was only Dragonfly that could get above 60% The other two remained stubbornly at 59% even as Dragonfly increased to 68% All in all Randidly had created 8 bracers with above 68% and this earned him a bit of extra cash that he had Helen use to go and buy him some clockwork instruments There were clocks and wind up toys and music boxes and all sorts of interesting little carefully delicate mechanisms

Randidly listened to them while sitting under his Weeping Cloud memorizing their sound Then he would take them apart and put them back together He even got the skill Clockwork Mastery and leveled it to 7 It wasn’t something he wanted to dedicate a lot of time to but if he wanted to have a powerful image Randidly thought it would be worth it to immerse himself as a true hobby unlike Engraving which had become such a lucrative pursuit

Shal’s brutal training the grinding of the Engraving the stress of being exposed to the diary of the Spear Phantom such was the strain that Randidly was under that in spite of his high vitality he started sleeping for an hour or two every day just to reset his body

As the week went on Shal’s training times extended spreading to encompass strategy in battle ruthlessness and the proper use of the different techniques that Randidly inherited Over and over Shal emphasized cutthroat actions There were no perfect answers just quick ones that arrived at the perfect time

Perhaps later Randidly could focus more on learning how to take advantage of certain actions on his enemies part but for now it was better to slowly just build up instinct for moving At the level that Randidly was moving Shal disdained it was far better to move first

Randidly only had limited interaction with his spear attendants but the more he watched them the more he realized that they were decidedly peculiar people Helen although she was one of the attractive women that Randidly had talked to for an extended amount of time was clearly suppressing herself somehow The other one who Randidly still didn’t know the name of was actually surprisingly skilled with a spear He just spent a lot of time practicing at the side of the boat looking at his own reflection in the water

By the end of the week Randidly had gained 2 Levels of Spear Mastery 4 in The Inevitable Phantom Arrives 6 in Spear Phantom’s Footwork 4 in Iron Skin and Dodge 2 in Fighting Proficiency and Block 1 in Empower Calculated Blow and Roundhouse Kick 5 in Battle Intent 2 in Root Control and Summon Pestilence 6 in Incinerating Bolt 2 in Plantomancy and 9 in Weeping Cloud

He also gained 1 in Potion Making and Refine 4 in Mana Engraving 1 in Physical Fitness Running and Meditation 2 in Pain Resistance 3 in First Aid 3 in Grace and Bacterial Regeneration 1 in Mental Fortitude 6 in Second Wind 4 in Weather Affinity and of course the 7 in Clockwork Mastery

Once more in the predawn light Randidly found himself with a sizable amount of PP after the week At Shal’s request he had waited to train in the strange turtle movement until they arrived at their destination which he was very closed mouthed about

For now Randidly decided to just continue as normal and move through the Path of Carnage paths

He used 5 PP and finished off the first path

Chapter 148

Flickeringly the completion notification appeared before him

Congratulations You have completed the Path of Carnage I You have started down a bloody road but sometimes it is a necessary path You walk forward and you are haunted by your choices You have encountered an Extending Path Continue or receive your current rewards

Randidly figured he would continued on this for a while anyway so he clicked on the continuing path options However it was slightly annoying to see that he received no completion bonus other than the additional point he got in Strength

In addition his previous Path of Carnage I 25/25 shifted to become Path of Carnage II 25/50 Gritting his teeth Randidly put another 25 points into it For this he received a point in Perception at 30 40 and 50 Then a notification popped up in front of him

Congratulations You have completed the Path of Carnage II As you continue forward the bones begin to form piles The path ahead of you is desolate and the future seems bleak To your left you see a small altar of skulls Shall you depart from this path here You have encountered an Extending Path Continue or recieve your current reward

Randidly’s eyelid twitched It did not seem like this would be a very efficient use of PP But he was the stubborn type and now that he had gone down this path he wasn’t going to stop now After all pushing all the way through on the Pathless Path had led him to his Soul Skill which continued to pay dividends Better to just bear the cost So Randidly selected to continue

You have passed the Chieftain’s Alter The rewards for choosing the Chieftain’s Alter +5 Str +3 End and Agi +2 Vit and Per +1 React

How generous of them to remind you what you gave up on Randidly thought with a bit of acid in the back of his throat Instead he opened the path menu back up What he saw caused his eyes to bulge He now had Path of Carnage III but it was at 50/100 So the cost increased too

Unhappy Randidly poured most of his remaining 62 into completing the path He received something at 75 and 100 but it was 2 distributable points at both so he was a little mollified All 4 of these Randidly put into Perception in an effort to raise his ability to contend with the spear users he would encounter soon

Congratulations You have completed the Path of Carnage III The bones flow like seas around you silent and still swamps of blood dotting the landscape This is a path you walk alone you realize You wonder if it is truly necessary or if you enjoy the road you walk That answer is very important To your right you see a wooden cup filled with blood Shall you depart from this path here You have encountered an Extending Path Continue or recieve your current reward

Resisting the admittedly large temptation of the very unappetizing sounding cup of blood Randidly elected to continue

You have passed the Bloodseeker’s Cup The rewards for choosing the Bloodseeker’s Cup +8 Str +7 End and Agi +1 Vit and React Bloodseeker Strike (Un) Lvl 1

Randidly shut his eyes to the rewards and looked at his path page He almost wished he hadn’t Path of Carnage IV was at 100/200 It would require 100 more PP before he was able to accept the reward again Would it be worth it to take the next one if it seemed interesting

But Randidly shook his head refusing to give in his stubborn streak still strong So he put his final 12 PP into this next path and struggled to control his breathing

After all soon Shal would come and it would be time for them to leave Qtal for a time He needed to handle a few small tasks first For the moment Randidly stood It had been a week since he had personally met the merchant Claptrap and he supposed it was polite to tell him what was going on

Claptrap’s eyes widened when he once again in a strange sense of deja vu opened up his door late at night to find the Ghosthound waiting on his doorstep He quickly ushered him in and offered him some rather nice tea The Ghosthound politely declined and spoke explaining how he would soon go away for a time training in preparation for the Regional Tournament

Nodding rapidly Claptrap brought out another 100 of boots and breast plates and 200 of bracers The members of the Crashing Wave Style were extremely pleased with the bracers over 60% and were very interested in obtaining more after seeing the strange Rain Engraved bonus attribute that all of the armor had begun to possess Although it only provided a negligible amount of mana and a point in focus as that process continued to be refined and focused those rewards would only grow

It also seemed to cement in the members of the Crashing Wave Style that this engraver would soon be cracked down upon by the guilds and they began offering more money As such Claptrap had profit projections that left his head spinning Even though his attitude cooled somewhat when he had been approached by various other larger Styles who seemed to somehow have caught wind of what was going on with his armor

At the moment he wasn’t sure whether to start a bidding war or to remain faithful but Claptrap knew he had to act fast But when he produced the large amount of armors the Ghosthound frowned his brow furrowed

You He said hesitation in his voice Is this not most of your supply I’m not sure where I’ll be going but if Shal considers it training

The Ghosthound hesitated there is a chance I may not come back Perhaps you should keep some

Claptrap shook his head Without you I would just go back to being a normal merchant The Engraving is the profit bringer right now No one out here cares about quality and craftsmanship only cheap results And your Engraving

Then Claptrap stopped paling realizing he had just referred to the process that undoubtedly took quite a bit of time and effort as cheap results But the Ghosthound simply chuckled and beckoned for him to continue So slowly Claptrap said

Besides maybe someone like you wouldn’t understand but there are some things you can’t just get normally For some goals you need to risk everything I have one of those goals

The Ghosthound stilled looking at the table Then he slowly moved gathering up the container holding all of the armor pieces too true

Struck by a sudden impulse Claptrap blurted out My goal is a girl I want to become the greatest merchant in the Northern Region so I can ask for her hand in marriage She is quite like you Mr Ghosthound she is the cherished heir to a powerful Style

The Ghosthound chuckled Do I seem very cherished Well anyway good luck to you If both of you feel that way I’m sure you can convince the world

Claptrap shifted uncomfortably Well we haven’t really talked much

The Ghosthound’s clear laughter surprised him You haven’t really even talked much and you already plan on marriage

Well Claptrap said feeling decidedly judged I’ve sold her armor before

This caused the Ghosthound to bend over laughing and smacking his knee which did a lot to shatter Claptrap’s impression of the Ghosthound as a tense and intimidating figure But then as his laughter subsided he turned sideways and gave him a light glance Oh there was one more detail I wanted to discuss with you

Claptrap felt abruptly submerged in ice How could he let this happen again This man was a master of using innocuous statements and questions to get his way How could he have let his guard down for even a second

Trying to keep his expression easy mimicking the Ghosthound’s manner Claptrap simply said Oh

The Ghosthound nodded What can you tell me about the history of the Spear Phantom Style

Shal looked up as his disciple walked into the room Are you prepared

His disciple nodded Of all his disciple’s faults and there were many Shal was pleased that laziness and hesitation were not among them When there was a goal to accomplish his disciple was willing to roll up his sleeves and address the problem although he had no real competency at addressing the issue They quickly went out and removed both of their Tassles

Since they were departing it was right to take them away with them This would give Divvit some manner of peace for a time at the very least Then they began quickly gliding over the boats heading for the large net of ladders that would lead to the cliffs

Another positive quality of his disciple was that he did not tire easily So even though Shal set what he thought would be a rather brutal pace for his disciple he followed without complaint keeping up with him It seemed that his physical conditioning was acceptable If only the fool knew how to use that during a fight

They were given a glance by individuals watching the chains but neither of their faces were well known enough by the wider populace to earn recognition in a place like this Although Shal’s blue tinted skin did attract a little attention

He still regretted allowing his father to convince him dyeing his skin thus was a good idea

After they reached the plateau Shal upped the pace even further and they ran for almost 8 hours until they began to approach a mountain range When they had a good view of an ugly squat castle on the largest of the mountains he stopped and turned to his disciple

ahead lies a system village At a high enough boundary they allow for the purchase of buildings that allow for time dilution At first many villages thought this curious why provide this option when dungeons were free But soon as the Calamity came and its servants many found the time dilution building incredibly useful As a punishment

His disciple didn’t seem to understand so Shal shook his head and continued In this world stats grant you a greatly extended life And power is king those with power felt they were superior to those without So when someone with middling power misbehaves abusing it the rulers were torn Physical punishment and pain was easy to ignore with high stats And they could not spare these men from their armies when the Calamity came all help was needed But also they couldn’t let it slide without action

So imprisonment His disciple said

Shal nodded Yes these time dilution locations became prisons a cooling off period to punish I could not manage to get us in the backdoor so

Drawing his spear Shal began to walk forward heading towards a series of carts on the path below them heading up towards the mountain Let us commit a crime that earns us some jail time

Chapter 149

Dehark leader of the Asura Hyena Style sneered down at the approaching duo with his bloodthirsty troop milling about behind him It was common knowledge that the short road to Tomkat over which they stood was infested with bandits worse than a mangy cat with fleas As such many groups gathered here but the Asura Hyena Style was the most powerful group present and had first dibs on any fat caravans that came past

Still it always brought Dehark some amount of amusement when more bottom feeders arrived trying to make it in life as a bandit after they had failed as a spear user Unlike them he had grown up in this life and had a vicious streak that would frighten weaker hearted children to death But these two carried themselves confidently and the taller man had a blue tint to his skin which indicated a relationship with someone powerful so Dehark stayed silent for now

The new arrivals settled down and made a fire The blue skinned one made a curt gesture to the smaller of the two and the other bobbed his head and walked over to some nearby people Dehark couldn’t hear what they were talking about but assumed they like most waifs were searching for a way to join a larger group But the people they approached were not his so he looked away bored

Inevitably his eyes drifted over to the Willow Tree Spear Style Tassle a warm yellow color which was raised over the far side of the camp The Willow Tree Spear Style was the only group in the area that could rival his Asura Hyena Style and more interestingly all of its members were women Rumor had it that they used to be a well recognized Style in an area to the west but they had lost a confrontation with another Style resulting in their strength plummeting to the level where they could only support themselves by becoming bandits

Dehark knew they were women and knew that they were currently weak his impulse to prey upon them howled within him hungering for blood and soft flesh But he didn’t become the leader of the largest bandit outfit in the area by being hasty The Willow Tree Spear Style had truly been an affluent Style they undoubtedly still had some strength even if it was greatly depleted Better to wait for them to reveal themselves then strike

He watched one of the members of the Willow Style talking with the newcomer who had meandered over towards them It was hard to tell what she was thinking due to the veils all of the women wore but she clearly spoke back Dehark guffawed slapping his knee So they were even so desperate they would go begging women for help Embarrassing

Then the newcomer gave the woman several silver coins The woman waved her hand and produced the carcass of a wild boar They exchanged these and parted

Blinking at the sight Dehark was confused They simply were buying food It was extremely rare for bandits to buy food after all their stats allowed them to subsist on very little even if the hunger was a constant distraction Perhaps these two weren’t desperate so much as foolish

Dehark filed this information away for later and his gaze returned to the golden Tassle and the tent below it For now he waited

Randidly could tell that even Shal’s interest was piqued by the way his nostrils flared as he cooked Even some of the other bandits seemed to wander closer eyes on the roasting pig After rubbing some herbs on it it certainly gave off a very attractive scent

Randidly cut up potatoes and peppers and put them into an iron pot which he placed under the pig Slowly as blood and grease fell down from the pig it fell into the pot and began to boil the vegetables He was unsure if this was sanitary but he knew the flavor would likely be good for it so he let it go

Peaking at Shal’s face again Randidly was surprised to find that his master’s face was quite brooding He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but Shal seemed to sense it and glanced up at him Shal’s eyes burned with a hot wild emotion before it was quickly smothered Then Shal sighed

You are soft If you remain this soft what will come after will be filled with difficulty

Randidly remained silent Somehow he knew that Shal didn’t mean the fighting When Shal said that they had to commit crimes he was aware of what sort of actions they would need to take And it was true that one of the things they would need to do would be to hurt others Likely without just cause They would use these people as a means to enter into the prison

Shal’s mouth quirked up As if he had followed along Randidly’s thought process he said No you misunderstand This part will not be so bloody although there will likely be casualties What follows will be difficult The minimum sentence in the prison is 100 Years The time dilution is about 400x so that will take half a year too long We will need to break out of the prison And to do that we will slaughter our way through guards by the hundreds

Closing his eyes Shal said I can manage most of the killing on my own but the blood will be on your hands And you will need to locate my spear Only once I have it do I have confidence to rail against that stronghold We have not known each other long but we can be considered to be involved We have done favors for one another our destinies are tied together But if you find that you lack the resolve to kill Leave tonight I will not seek you

Randidly sat silently He was here to repay what Shal had done for him but it was true that didn’t mean he would do anything for him Inwardly Randidly had been wondering why more people wouldn’t use this plan but he realized there were two reasons One it wasn’t necessary Others could use dungeons And two It was essentially giving up your freedom for 100 years of your time even if only 6 months passed in the real world Leaving early was almost impossible

But Shal seemed confident Even so

Why do we do this Randidly asked quietly The boar hissed and spat grease popping off of it The vegetables were really boiling now and Randidly sprinkled some spices into the mixture

For me A chance at meeting someone I’ve been looking for For a very long time For you Shal’s eyes opened The chance of power If you make the top 4 of this tournament you will be given access to the Hall of Stances Thousands of the most powerful Styles have been collected there And if you give me the opportunity I was looking for I will give you the full inheritance of the Spear Phantom You may be strong and you are growing well even without my guidance you would become formidable But

But you would always just be a man who plays at using the spear If that destiny is satisfactory you do not need me But this chance is just tonight If you do not leave I will consider you bound to me We cannot turn back

Randidly looked into the fire for a long time Then he produced a knife and sliced off long chunks of the pig’s flesh added some of the vegetables and wordlessly handed it to Shal After sniffing it Shal nibbled on the edge of some then rapidly began devouring the rest of his plate

After serving himself Randidly sat down He was tempted by what Shal offered His insight and training had helped him improve immensely Setting aside that Randidly wasn’t sure how to leave this planet he considered the hard truth was he alright with killing people to find power

Then he remembered the words of the Path of Carnage and shivered Perhaps he should have taken them more seriously But Randidly couldn’t deny how badly he wanted the power It was what drove him to practically torture himself every day pushing himself to the limit That sense of loss and hopelessness That frustration and confusion as he wanted to find his friends but could find no methods to do so

He craved power to overcome those emotions To protect his small village To resist the system that had invaded his world and killed many of the people he had known

He had been callous in the past He had allowed monster hordes to rage without assisting and many people had died do to it He didn’t assist with whatever problems Donnyton had with its sister village Death had resulted from his inaction

Which was different from what would happen now

Randidly ate more slowly than Shal who finished then belched and lay on the ground in a leisurely manner relaxing After he had eaten his fill Randidly looked at the boar which was barely even dented and then looked at the hungry and predatory looks around them Randidly stepped forward and began to gather the food into his spatial ring when someone spoke

Hey now you have so much why not share with your big brother here Believe me this will go much easier if you stay on my good side A few men stepped forward all holding large spears

Randidly just stayed still but a small fire was lit in his gut The men smiled cruelly and approached

Hehe that’s more like it be good and we won’t fucking shit poison The man said his eyes widening as he stumbled and he quickly produced a potion and gulped it down Randidly shrugged but didn’t stop Pollen of the Rafflesia

Their gazes were tinged with fear now but that was quickly overwhelmed by anger

This isn’t your lucky day kid The first man who had an ugly scar down his cheek said Then he gestured to another of the men My mate has a poison resistance over 30 Weaklings like you who can be countered so easily deserve to die

Something snapped in Randidly then But he didn’t move He simply smiled

Spearing roots ripped up through the second man boring holes in his stomach He whimpered his eyes wide and the rest of the men froze The first man seemed to be rather brave and vindictive because rather than run he spun and leapt towards Randidly his spear slashing forward

He could almost hear Shal whispering in his ear these weaklings did not deserve to die by the spear So Randidly stepped forward and knocked the spear to the side with his hand and delivered a Roundhouse Kick to the side of the man’s knee

That man was far far weaker than Shal and even weaker than the average participant in the qualifier After all he was not valued enough to even be enrolled in a Style So his knee cracked and popped and he fell to the ground screaming

Randidly had forgotten that this was not Earth Here strength was everything People would kill for a scrap of food With the anger hot in his belly Randidly stepped forward with fire in his eyes Life was not an incredibly precious thing It was worth less than a slab of bacon

That was what the system did It transformed you It transformed your world into a place where you either killed for strength or died to someone who wanted it more than you Just like Randidly’s strength was rising so was the strength of the System aiming against them Shal spoke of Calamities Raid Bosses were growing in strength Eventually the walls of the Zone Donnyton was in would come down

If Randidly had insufficient strength at that point he would never have another shot He was already taking enough of a risk by refusing to capitulate to the system and receive a class for now at least As such

He needed to seize every opportunity presented to him Or he would inevitably die

Chapter 150

Randidly stood panting almost 10 minutes later a dozen or so bodies around him ripped to pieces or devoured by insects or burnt to a crisp or slowly drowning in their own foaming saliva as Pollen of the Rafflesia destroyed their body from the inside

He stood with closed eyes panting Even though the anger had justified this to himself and even now he still believed in those reasons it was one thing to kill another It was entirely different to look at the bodies of those you had slain and lay their spirits to rest inside of yourself But Randidly stood there and struggled slowly adjusting his mindset

He had killed before and will kill again That was definitely true But today especially in the wake of being presented with the choice by Shal it felt like he had stepped on a path of death But in his heart Randidly knew that this was bound to happen All those months ago when given the choice he chose this

When he selected rot and got Pollen of the Rafflesia and Edge of Decay

When he had chosen the path of the stinking corpse lily

Still it hit him strangely now Perhaps it was their weakness They were much weaker than him Just average people here the dregs of society And he had killed them for envying his meat

After a few more minutes his breathing slowly turned to even Randidly opened his eyes the green in them dark like a shadowed forest Then he turned and began walking calmly over towards the woman who had given him the meat

In this world displays like this were common There was no need to feel embarrassment or shame Those around had simply backed up while it happened and picked through the bodies as Randidly departed showing their callous treatment of death This was a fact of life to them

For a second Randidly regretted leaving his spear attendants back in Qtal They really were rather convenient for avoiding interactions like this But it would be useful The faction the woman clearly belonged to seemed rather normal And perhaps it would be good to appear friendly after killing those people for relations here as they waited for caravans

Then Randidly sighed He had no fucking idea how to deal with interpersonal stuff Was it weird that he transitioned so quickly from killing to going to offer food But he was already walking over so it seemed strange to just turn around The woman had noticed his approach and was gazing at him

Randidly’s frown deepened What if she thought it was some sort of courting ritual Well he supposed it wasn’t worth it to worry One of the few sayings he had taken away from his mother was that humans are only big enough to hold emotions for one person so worry about how you feel and fuck the rest And do your best to feel good that’s all life is about ’ The point had wandered at the end but he had found worrying solely about himself and leaving other people to their own feeling involved less interaction on his part and appreciated it

Hello again He said simply walking up to the woman Another shorter woman had approached as he came and was standing nearby leaning on her spear

The woman he had spoken to nodded serenely and then said nothing

Scratching his ear Randidly just said it I had some extra of the boar you gave me Here as thanks for helping me No one else would

Randidly waved his hand and produced a pot with quite a bit of the extra meat and vegetables The woman nodded as if this was the most normal thing in the world and took it Then she bowed to him

I appreciate the gesture Mr

Ghosthound

Mr Ghosthound then If you need any more wildlife please come find me My name is Jade You appear to have the Cooking skill which is rather rare but appreciated We of the Willow Tree Spear Style will be willing to sample your cooking anytime

Randidly shifted awkwardly and nodded No problem Then he turned and walked back to Shal

As Shal seemed perfectly content to rest Randidly removed bracers and began to Engrave Time slowly slipped past It was frustrating but he didn’t seem to be able to get above 60% for now with the other two types of Engraving But he kept using all of his mana to make a Weeping Cloud and attempting it Shal didn’t even seem to mind as his face lost a lot of its lines as the soft rain landed on him

About 3 hours after they arrived just around the time Randidly was switching over to playing with his Root Spiders to pass the time a caravan rolled past Randidly stood but Shal shook his head Confused Randidly looked at him

This is not the quarry for which we wait Do not worry it will come within the day

Meanwhile the largest group present with rust color armor rolled forward headed down towards the caravan Several people from the caravan separated from it getting off their horses and walking over to meet the bandits

This road is very special Banditry is encouraged here on most caravans Brave and foolhardy and desperate merchants use this road The other routes are relatively safer but take much longer It was a lesson made by the founder of Tomkat who had a very large disdain for merchants

Randidly watched as the bandits split off too an exact number equal to the defenders continuing forward Then they battled in a group the bandits quickly overpowering most of the defenders except for one That individual fought valiantly until 3 bandits ganged up on her and stabbed her repeatedly killing her

Aside from that very exemplary individual who died just like that the rest ceased fighting with just wounds Randidly felt slightly sad for that young woman who died just like that for some strange reason that he couldn’t understand

There seem to be some rules Randidly asked Shal snorted

The playacting of the weak Worry not when you make your move you will not bother with it

Randidly’s eyes rose My move

Shal leaned back and closed his eyes again Of course we wish to be imprisoned in a place that cannot contain us if I reveal my strength they will place me in the highest tower without a hope of escape So I am just a companion of yours Keep yourself ready They may arrive at anytime

Mulling this information over Randidly settled back down around the fire they had made The bandits returned guffawing and happy having been paid off by the caravan to let the rest of them pass

With nothing else to do Randidly returned to Engraving But he was swiftly interrupted by a familiar voice

Mr Ghosthound are you engraving

Randidly looked up sharply The figure was basically indistinguishable from all of the other members of that strange Style due to their golden robes but the voice made him confident it was Jade He also felt slightly guilty for so blatantly practicing Engraving after Claptrap had implied that it was extremely dangerous but he didn’t really think he would be here long enough for it to matter

So to her question he hesitated but nodded That seemed to put her very deep in thought All of a sudden Randidly recognized from Shal’s stillness that he was paying very very close attention to what was being said

Jade bowed to Randidly then and then to Shal twice We had recognized you Artisan Shal but hadn’t known how to ask for your help But for the son of the Spear Phantom we would pay a high price for your

Not interested and I don’t have time Shal rolled away ending the discussion

Jade turned back to Randidly Please Mr Ghosthound At least come see my mistress We can offer significant help with your studies She glanced meaningfully at the bracer in his hand

Randidly thought it weird that she would ask about engraving so directly and now was playing coy but he also knew something strange was going on He glanced at Shal When Randidly had asked Claptrap about the Phantom Spear Style he hadn’t known anything but promised to investigate It really seemed that Shal’s father was quite the notable figure

We require nothing right now Jade quickly said as she saw his glance But in the future if you acquire the strength to assist my Willow Tree Spear Style Simply a promise

Randidly kept his gaze on Shal who hadn’t moved but was breathing normally again Honestly he was quite tempted by the offer especially if it would help his Engraving Not really because he desired the money from selling them but because Engraving was undoubtedly a powerful skill As he developed it the effects grew increasingly powerful Someday he would need to work on his own equipment and it would be extremely useful then

Also if he returned to Donnyton with this knowledge It would become a powerful weapon and source of trade If he really would embark on this path of blood in order to obtain power it would be good to help build something with that power

Well I suppose hearing her out wouldn’t hurt Randidly said slowly Shal didn’t move So he turned and followed Jade back towards the main tent of the Willow Style

Dehark’s glee for a good haul was wiped away as he watched the newcomer approach the tent of the Willow Tree Spear Style An insidious and acidic jealousy filled his heart He had ignored it when the newcomers demonstrated their power but perhaps he had been too merciful

But then again if this gave him a lever to use to get into that tent

Gritting his teeth Dehark forced himself to do nothing as that young man proceeded into the tent that he had fantasized so often about over the last few weeks He forced himself to remain cool and calm

His mind began to tick as he turned to look at the horizon This

This would not go unpunished Dehark smiled showing all of his crooked and yellow teeth

Chapter 151

Randidly left the tent 15 minutes later feeling elated but strangely sad

The old woman who sat in the tent carefully tended by several women due to her enchanted wounds that wouldn’t heal spun a very sad tale A year ago they had been one of the two most powerful Styles of the Engraving Guilds in the Spearman School Domain But they had been betrayed and attacked by those who wanted their engraving symbols

For their Willow Style did not have many of the basic animal runes nor many of the elemental symbols that would add magical power to a weapon’s attacks But they did have a very particular and powerful method that very few other Engraving Styles had they knew how to Engrave a skill into a weapon or armor

At its most basic it was like a gun with limited bullets It had a certain number of charges which once used would deplete it and cause the Engraving to disappear At higher levels these charges recharged slowly and used indefinitely

At the highest level the skill would grow like a normal skill slowly growing stronger But this was only when the Engraving was made by a master

The old woman sorrowfully explained that they had escaped with their lives and these methods burning all other records to ash as they fled Although they could hide here living as bandits it was extremely difficult

For they had broken and their power scattered they had nothing They needed hope So even though it was only for a promise of assistance and support they had given Randidly two things the first was a very large set of volumes that detailed the very complicated and formulaic way that basic runes worked and how they were discovered Theoretically the woman stated one could use these basic principles contained in the book set to create your own runes

The second object was a short list of runes that they had discovered This included the Oxen Rune which increased Vitality and Resistance the Dolphin Rune which increased Intelligence and Control and the Preying Mantis which increased Perception and Willpower But the most valuable rune was the Shadow Rune which was divided into 5 grades each version even more simplified But even the basic Grade V Shadow Rune made Randidly’s eyebrows rise rapidly The mana required for it was about double his mana pool

For obvious reasons they weren’t willing to give Randidly any of their more complicated runes or their Skill rune method It almost seemed foolish to him that they even told him about it But when he looked at the old woman and the rest of the skinny women desperately slurping at the tasty food he had provided he realized that his was just flailing desperation

They needed something some hope to hold onto That old woman didn’t know if Randidly could become that but offering this small information was better than doing nothing at all even though helping Randidly along on his Engraving path might lead the investigations from the Engraving Guilds back to them

So Randidly returned to the fire inwardly torn It was just a promise but He took promises very seriously He didn’t want to feel like he owed anything to others Sitting down he took out one of the books given to him by the old woman and looked at it for a long time Then he simply sighed

His eyes hardened He had already resolved himself to take the path to strength He couldn’t afford to waffle back and forth while the system continued to throw curveballs his way If he wanted Donnyton and in a larger sense Earth to survive

Following this train of thought Randidly turned to Shal What is the Calamity

Shal didn’t even open his eyes There is no meaning in speaking of it

Randidly frowned I’ll go back to my own world eventually and I will want to prepare If I knew something about it

As always you rush to judgement Shal straightened looking over towards the road I wish I could tell you but you cannot understand it Here look The Calamity

As Shal began to speak the words shifted and suddenly Shal was saying something in a trill and clicking language He talked for a minute while Randidly’s eyebrows rose and then shrugged at him

as I say no point in speaking of it The system will prevent you from learning information before your time Just know that it is powerful The only individual in the history of our world who can rival it was the Spearman That alone should give you an idea of the power it possesses

Shaking his head Randidly settled back to his thoughts What he really grew to fear was the System itself It somehow detected the content of the speech and reversed the translation function however it worked in real time That made him wonder about what it meant for him refusing to get a class and the Heretic distinction Clearly if it really wanted to prevent him from doing something it had no qualms about doing it

Then why was he allowed to continue without a class Or rather it wasn’t that the system wanted him to take a class but he was just walking a path that would be dangerous but with a high payoff

Although this wasn’t a normal situation very few individuals could rival what he was doing just for lack of Aether But the Judgement system was in place for a reason If they didn’t expect this to happen why would it have been created Or rather exist Randidly wasn’t so sure he wanted to think about the beings that were capable of creating something like the system Besides it seemed strangely without a purpose It had come to Earth but Randidly still didn’t know why

Suddenly he remembered his conversation a few weeks ago in Franksburg with the professor where he flippantly responded they were giving up control

Of what ’ The professor had responded

Now as Randidly thought about his decisions to sacrifice the lives of others in order to find power he could do nothing but clench fists But surely the system wasn’t here to drive individuals to moral bankruptcy Likely that was just a side effect of another goal the true goal This wasn’t even close to the core of the system There were 4 more groups of planets beyond this cohort And perhaps it extends even further than that

Randidly asked then what is the system Why does it comes to worlds What is the point

Shal snorted Hmph fool I have had a small speck of respect for you because you did not immediately ask this That is gone The system is the system It comes like weather Perhaps someday it will pass It gave us tools we didn’t have before but our goal will always be the same perfecting the spear Even before the system came our world chased this ideal seeking previous Spearmen the individual who defeated the Calamity was not the first but likely the greatest Do not ask question you don’t have the power to understand Focus inward idiot disciple

Randidly opened his mouth then closed it Shal’s answer might not have been designed to answer the question but it did contain some information From the way Shal was speaking it seemed that they didn’t know It came and it changed their lives But ultimately it was secondary Then Randidly wondered how long the system had been in this world but decided against asking It seemed Shal was done with interaction for now

Perhaps after the shock of the switch passed Earth would be like that too Accepting the existence of the system finding a new normal It almost made Randidly sad in a way But he supposed that even he couldn’t deny that the system’s arrival had done much for him It gave people a path

But another part of him whispered that path came at the cost of millions of lives Sighing Randidly looked down at the book After a bit of hesitation he opened it and began to read

Time passed quickly as Randidly used Root Control to burn through his mana and studied the book The beginning chapters laid out very generally some theories about engraving and how it worked What Randidly was most interested in was when it described how Engraving was perhaps a simplified version of the way that Aether changed human bodies

However any attempts to Engrave on a living body resulted in horrible monstrous disastrous results As such the other half of the introductory chapter listed some things that you shouldn’t do with Engraving Aside from Engraving living creatures the rest was rather self explanatory But what it did seem to indicate was that the reason that Engraving didn’t work was the issue of image whereas objects couldn’t do anything but allow the image of the Engraver to be impressed upon them living creatures could have their own images

Because as the text seemed to indicate there didn’t appear to be any uniformity in what shapes and patterns created effects What was really important was what the Engraver thought it would do

This was complicated by a living recipient because the different images merged and changed which was combined with the apparently agonizing pains of having your body engraved upon This pain warped the image the recipient had even further moving it far away from the original goal

Randidly found it rather interesting but he didn’t think attempting it sounded anything like a good idea Better to focus on learning the background information in order to improve his regular engraving

But footsteps distracted Randidly causing him to look up A bald man who appeared to be the leader of the rust colored bandits was walking up to their campfire with a sinister smile

Welcome companions Are you new to the area The man said extending his hand towards Randidly I am Dehark We in this business must maintain relationships lest any accidents happen

Randidly distastefully took the man’s hand and some of his distaste must have shown on his face because Dehark’s face tightened After glancing at Shal and probably realizing that even getting one of these people to acknowledge him was a feat Dehark said Well I just came over to welcome you and to give you a bit of a gift a caravan is coming down the road and as the newbies you wouldn’t usually get the chance at an easy mark like this But I like the look of you two I think you will go far here So want to handle this one Stick it to those fat merchants

Dehark smiled manically at them but Randidly just looked at Shal Yawning Shal straightened and held a hand up to his eyes Then strangely he smiled Yes why don’t you let us handle this one Disciple you will go and you only need to make sure to do one thing

Randidly tilted his head to the side and Shal continued You simply need to kill one of them Do what you must to do so Hold nothing back Ah take out your spear and give me your ring

After he handed over the ring Randidly nodded and walked passed Dehark who seemed to have frozen the smile sliding off his face

K k kill one of them The man muttered to himself but Randidly ignored it As he walked forward he removed the large obsidian spear from his ring the one Shal had given for when he went into the formation He hefted it enjoying its weight which was greater than even the Spine Spear that Sam had forged for him

Just a single life

Just a single step on his path

But he must because a spear that stopped advancing would be destroyed

Breathing evenly Randidly advanced towards the caravan

Chapter 152

Dehark was sweating Watching the slender man walk forward down the hill towards the caravan he quickly turned to the lazing man with the blue skin You you don’t really think he can kill one of them right They They

The man grinned up at him Yes they are some soldiers of Tomkat Attacking them is akin to challenging the honor of the city An act of defiance the First Spear of Tomkat does not take kindly to

But Dehark was flabbergasted his knees trembling If he were to seriously harm any of them this whole camp

Would likely be hunted down and tortured for 1000 years The man said seemingly with relish Dehark stumbled backwards eyes wide Sure he had spent the last several years building up power here upon this spot in the road driving away most of his competition or absorbing them But if someone seriously challenged Tomkat’s soldiers it wasn’t just the perpetrators the whole group they were near would be hunted to stomp down any spark of resistance

The strength and forces he had built up thus far were not worth his life It would be best to flee

Then a thought struck him and Dehark turned back to the slender man running forward towards the caravan A lone defender after a brief hesitation came out to meet him seemingly shocked

Perhaps there was nothing to worry about If it was just some superficial wounds the soldiers would not pursue the matter After all it was understandable for a young and foolish man to throw himself at them to test himself Some a select few with talent might even impress some members of the soldiers and be invited to come apply for a foot soldier position which was the dream of many

This was originally why Dehark had maliciously encouraged them to go challenge them The soldiers would likely beat them into the dirt breaking their spears and ravaging their bodies It would be a good lesson and demonstrate why they needed someone like Dehark who was a good leader

But the blue skinned man had spoken with such confidence And watching that slender man’s back as he ran forward to meet the spear user on a horse

Dehark quickly beckoned some of his lieutenants over and made preparations to break camp immediately

Randidly ran forward his eyes narrowed A grizzled veteran of a man with grey hair was riding out to meet him a brutal frown clear on his face As they grew closer Randidly realized there was a very official seeming regalia hanging off of this man’s chest Not just typical merchants then or guards These were something more

But Shal had seemed confident that Randidly could handle it even if he had implicitly said it would require his spells to do so Either way there was no way that Randidly was going to let him down after they had come this far What would come later would be even worse

When they came within earshot the man began to speak

Leave and I will forget this foolishness The man said with a snort clearly dismissing Randidly

Perfect he was arrogant too That would make this so much easier Randidly said nothing and raised his spear and that seemed to signal something to the soldier who snorted then examined Randidly a little more closely His eyes narrowed as he looked at that spear though as if he had seen it before Randidly adjusted his grip appreciating the strange warmth of the obsidian in his hands

If you insist

But Randidly already created Spearing Roots that ripped up into the belly of the horse and higher stabbing towards the man Filled with fear and pain and roots the horse attempted to rear upward and screeched

The man however responded very quickly flipping expertly off the horse with a grace that made Randidly worried

The Incendiary Bolt however that hit the man’s right hand mid air and blew most of it off did much to alleviate these fears Unwilling to pass up the chance Randidly ran forward noticing how although the man’s eyes widened he quickly shifted his grip to his left hand and raised his spear to meet Randidly’s

Their spears clashed against each other twice very quickly and Randidly soon realized that he was rather overmatched Even with the man on his back foot and reeling missing a hand his strikes still had enough power to smash Randidly’s strikes to the side

If he wanted to actually kill he would need to keep pushing

At this point there was no hesitation only resolve He would kill For his path that led towards strength this man in front of him needed to die

A Circle of Flame blasted outwards smashing the man backwards His stats seemed sufficient to keep it to a stumble but in that time Randidly had summoned a Wall of Thorns behind the man and ran forward As he moved he waved his hand and Summoned Pestilence the air filling with the buzzing of hungry insects

The man regained his stance just in time to get hit in the face with 100 chittering bugs which quickly dug into his nose mouth and eyes biting into his flesh The man roared and stumbled backwards right into the wall of thorns several of them sinking deep into his flesh

Randidly leveled his spear and prepared to strike

The man screamed again as more Spearing Roots stabbed upward into his legs But now his spear was moving shearing away the roots and the wall killing insects by the dozen Within around 2 5 seconds the spear and the seemingly powerful Battle Intent around it had defeated all of Randidly’s spells and he turned forward ready to face another

But of course this time there was only a looming spear The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Randidly whispered his smile a coy one The air around them darkened Clocks ticked incessantly The spear grew larger and larger and behind it was the ghastly phantasm of a woman Randidly’s mother her smile pitiable and final Before that smile before that spear all one could feel was helplessness

In a battle composed only of spears a 3 second windup for a strike is almost impossible to manage But luckily Randidly had many tricks up his sleeves to give him the time he needed

The man didn’t have time to block and the spear crashed into the man’s chest ripping open his flesh and destroying the bones and nearby organs The man’s body spasmed and leaned forward but then it froze and the man slowly looked up his chest cavity a mass of gore seemingly somehow still alive

You The man started to howl but Randidly stabbed with his spear again and again using Root Control to reach up and grab the man’s body tearing away strips of flesh that he was cutting away slowly ripping him to pieces

Randidly even used Phantom Onslaught just ripping into the man’s body before he slumped forward Even then Randidly cut off the head and sent a few dozen insects eating down through the neck before he was satisfied

All at once everything he had done hit him and all Randidly could smell was the man’s blood on his clothes the weight of his head in Randidly’s hand As quickly as possible as instructed by Shal he stored his spear into his ring and used Root Control to take the ring and throw it back towards Shal He was about halfway there through the relay of roots when there was a dull roaring and Randidly could just see a wave of Battle Intent sweeping towards him and then he was unconscious

When Randidly awoke he was in chains Surrounding him were several other unconscious prisoners lying in a wooden cart He instinctively checked for his ring panicked when it wasn’t there then remembered he had given it to Shal

Ah good disciple You wake we must speak quickly

Randidly looked to the side and saw Shal also bound in the gloom Shal continued to talk Here take your ring back Keep it in your mouth until we are inside

There is good news and bad news The good news is we are in but the bad news is that I was recognized I will be bound in a place that even for me will be difficult In addition I will not be able to teach you while I remain there So we must change our plan From my investigations you will be tortured by Battle Intent for 100 years before you are sent out to the badlands This is too slow You will need to escape prior to that and flee to the badlands Once there you will need to discover your own means to assist me in escaping from where I am kept to the badlands Only then can the training begin

After you have reached suitable levels or if you have taken so long there is no other choice we will break out It is that simple A few pieces of advice you will soon learn the trick of the Battle Intent torture It will not work against you But I recommend you bide your time

Second when you make it to the badlands avoid others as much as you can They may kill you to alleviate boredom

Randidly blinked very slowly his head still pounding from getting hit with the Battle Intent earlier A ring rolled across the wooden floor to him and Randidly leaned forward and picked it up with his mouth Then a thought struck him and he froze

Should we have really discussed it with all these people here Randidly whispered glancing around

Shal nodded Ah good you are learning Obviously not It is why I kill them before you awoke

Looking around slowly Randidly suddenly realized that they were perhaps too still around him There was no movement Not even the rise and fall of chests The dim lighting had hidden it before but dark stains surrounded the spots where these men lay In a way it was chilling But in another it was eye opening

Randidly stared at one of the still bodies pondering Is this really the only path to strength But Randidly stayed silent brooding over the dead shadows around him Even if it wasn’t this was his path And he refused to believe that it wouldn’t lead to strength if he followed it until the end

Chapter 153

They arrived and cloth bags were put over their heads Their hands were bound with a strange metal that felt extremely cold to the touch and resisted even Randidly’s extreme strength They were hurried off on what Randidly could feel were cobblestone streets and then they finally arrived at a place where their bags were removed

It was a courtroom They were tried as bandits who assaulted the soldiers of Tomkat and were found summarily guilty They didn’t ask for a defense but did ask whether Randidly as the perpetrator would claim any style as his own

Randidly was standing up front as the one who committed the crime so he could not see Shal’s reaction So he stood silent considering for several seconds But this was a world where you bore your strength and pride everywhere you went This was the land of the Tassle

So against his instincts Randidly lifted his head and said I am the youngest generation of the Spear Phantom Style

There were some mutterings amongst the guards and the group was quickly rebagged and whisked off In his brief time with vision Randidly was delighted to see that it seemed none of the women from the Willow Tree Spear Style had been captured or the other big bandit group that belonged to Dehark It was only the loners and the weak that had been swept up

Although he felt a small amount of pity in his heart for these people Randidly couldn’t bring himself to care overmuch He was just glad he had not immediately brought doom to the Willow Tree Spear Style immediately after they had given him a gift

They were brought to another room or at least Randidly was and he was roughly searched They appeared to be looking for an interspatial storage device but although they were extremely rough they were not thorough Tucking the ring under his tongue worked Which honestly made him wonder about how this prison continued to be effective but the bag was once more placed over his head and he was whisked forward

He felt it when they passed into the area where time had been altered It was like stepping outside on a humid day Even if the heat hadn’t started to get to you the very air seemed to cling to you Further and further he was dragged by guards until he was thrown roughly into a room The door closed and there was silence

Randidly lay there uncomfortable with his hands bound behind him but waited a bit longer to move After a while realizing he was done being moved Randidly stretched his arms and brought his legs to his chest getting his hands around his feet so that he was now bound by the metal handcuffs in front not in back Then he removed the cloth bag from his head

The room was dark so dark that even with his improved eyes and Eyes of the Spear Phantom it was very hard to see But he could faintly make out complicated lines drawn on the floor in a strange formation It seemed oddly familiar but Randidly couldn’t place it Instead he straightened and sat down to meditate

That first night passed slowly as Randidly almost curiously experienced his first night in prison He focused on meditating and Mana Strengthening straining against the handcuffs But it truly seemed like they were made of a very powerful material It was far beyond his ability to break at present

The only activity of note was that at one point footsteps began to draw closer Randidly instinctively tensed waiting for this Battle Intent Torture to begin But the footsteps came to his door and there was only a soft click Then the footsteps went away

Randidly blinked confused But then the floor began to glow the formation had been activated Increasingly nervous Randidly settled down to wait

After 12 hours of waiting he had at least one answer he knew why he recognized the formation somewhat It was a variant of the one that Shal had It isolated Aether in the air allowing none into the small chamber At this point Randidly felt slightly dizzy and the Aether inside of him began to stir Carefully extremely carefully Randidly reached for it removing only a thread and drawing it into his body More began to rise countless threads reaching to bore into his body but Randidly concentrated and pushed them back

Some of what Shal had said made sense now This was why this wouldn’t work on him This was likely an Aether starvation type torture coupled with the Battle Intents that were to come He would be weakened and then assaulted After all the physical toughness of most warrior’s in this world was high but Endurance couldn’t completely block damage done with Battle Intent That had been impressed upon Randidly by how he had been knocked unconscious by that furious wave immediately after he had killed that soldier

Still after repeated exposure to Battle Intent wouldn’t

Then Randidly froze finally seeing the cruelty of this type of torture Being exposed to this would fuel rapid growth especially because it would involve pain and a powerful desire to escape that pain with strength But to fuel that growth

The body needed Aether Randidly wasn’t sure what would happen when a body wanted to grow without Aether to fuel it but he suspected it would be similar to what would happen to a starving man if he tried to perform a high intensity cardio workout The body would be driven into the ground

Equally chilling was the mental effect When you realized it was your desire that was causing you this grief it would likely slowly chip away at your will as you flinched away from the pain

Randidly gritted his teeth This was why he needed strength Because people like this existed Because methods like this existed to hurt people Then again he had murdered someone to get here so it wasn’t like this was being used on innocent people

Randidly smiled sardonically Sometimes being too self aware hurt him It hindered his ability to dedicate himself righteously to a thought process like this made him realize that there weren’t any true evils in the world Everyone was struggling under the same yoke although they went about it in different ways

So Randidly sat still not conserving his Aether per se but attempting to keep his Aether from exploding upward in force filling him and igniting his growth like it had done previously True he wanted to train while he was here but he could afford to take it slow He could gain an understanding of how much Aether he needed and only allow that much to flow up into him It would just take time and experience to narrow it down

Eventually morning came and with it his torturer Randidly was surprised to find that it was a youthful looking man who seemed rather bored with the procedure The man would open the door to Randidly’s cell while the formation remained active jingle the keys to his handcuffs and throw attacks at him There was a physical component which was painful but possible to withstand but there was also the much more dangerous Battle Intent component which battered Randidly’s very perception

Even though he had known what was coming the strength and maliciousness of the strikes caught him by surprise It was designed to slowly maim and bleed a person’s psyche driving to madness and hopelessness

Randidly had a lot of respect for the torturer too Battle Intent relied very heavily on image and the images that ravaged Randidly’s consciousness were off decay and death Bodies decomposing filled his vision as he was hit with those attacks Flesh dissolving bones grinded to dust all returning to the still and cold earth In a way it was extremely painful for Randidly felt his body go through all of those physical sensations even though it was a purely cerebral experience while he was enduring the Battle Intent attack Within his chest Randidly could feel his own vastly weaker Battle Intent marshalling itself and being wiped out before it could even move But every time it was shredded by the powerful Intent of death it reformed more condensed stronger and more full

Still that strength was far behind the torturer’s

Eventually after several hours the torture stopped the man growing bored and leaving And Randidly collapsed breathing heavily Even though he had known even though he had prepared for a dangerous way to gain strength Never would he have imaged that it was through being tortured HIs lips curled upward He supposed that all life was torture why should this be any different At least this was honest

He was slightly concerned with how morbid his humor was turning but it was hard to be concerned about it when he was struggling to control the Aether within his chest He let several threads rush up and merge into his body strength flowing along his limbs He felt his mind settle into a more formidable structure and he felt the energy of his Battle Intent purify itself and grow more robust

Randidly continued to meditate channeling energy through his body The day passed much the same as the previous one had with Randidly using Meditation and Mana Strengthening to struggle with the bonds on his hands At the same time as the previous day during the following morning the young man arrived again and once more struck Randidly with his Battle Intent

This time Randidly’s own Battle Intent was able to defend his inner core from any damage preventing too much dizziness and nausea But even then he felt his abilities being slowly ground away until after an hour his intent was depleted

Time stretched onward leading unto the future

Randidly continued through this cycle slowly memorizing the timing and schedule of the the guards using the free time to practice other skills and moves His mana based attack were simply absorbed by the formation creating a more powerful isolating effect from Aether in the air This was perfect for Randidly’s purposes because he was rapidly gaining experience in controlling the Aether in his chest preventing enough from leaking upwards for the torturer to notice

Aside from the torturer Randidly only saw a small slave boy who brought food around every week This food Randidly ignored because it was just slop and stray traces of vegetables His Vitality was nearing 100 and it was more than enough to allow him to continue without sleep or food But he did find himself fantasizing in his spare moments about his favorite dishes from before the change came to Earth

He was a little too hesitant to produce a spear from his ring which he still kept under his tongue but there was a point that Randidly grew tired of just using spells and he began to bring out bracers and Engrave them

Weeks passed and as his Battle Intent was continually brutalized he finally got both the bear and fish Engraving over 60% He even began practicing the new sigils he learned from the Willow Tree Spear Style The animal versions he now had over 40% although not much more than that Meanwhile he made a few attempts at the Shadow Rune but its complexities continued to elude him and even after these weeks of grinding his Meditation wasn’t enough to give him the requisite amount of mana to accomplish the full Engraving in one sitting

Tortured mentally plagued by the vicious Battle Intent powerfully associated with death Randidly continued to grow He repressed his own intent at one point after about a month keeping it from struggling against the invading intent because it was nearing the level of strength it needed to fight back

But he resisted struggling against his mind’s natural instincts to defend itself But he needed more strength before he broke out He needed to grow here So he Meditated Engraved and his Battle Intent grew increasingly dense and viscous All the while time flowed slowly past

Chapter 154

After almost 2 months when Randidly felt rather confident that his own Battle Intent had grown to the point he needed it to he finally made his attempt to escape To his surprise it went extremely successfully When he lashed out with his Battle Intent smashing aside the mental attacks from the young man rather than panic the young man just smiled and took a step back Then he walked away leaving the keys to Randidly’s manacles

Nonplussed Randidly walked out of his jail cell and into the hallway There was even a very convenient path out of the hallway and into the outer world which Randidly quickly took The jail in this strange space was on a high mountain and Randidly was forced to quickly slide down the outside of the mountain to escape There he reached the Badlands as Shal had called it and encountered some new struggles

After all he quickly realized that the castle torture was meant to be possible to escape And below were the powerful spear users who could manage it The hot and dry scrublands with low plants was lousy with spear users constantly fighting against each other and against Randidly if they noticed him

His first fight went probably exactly how it should have gone he was ripped to pieces Afterwards the rather humongous man who had put his spear multiple times through Randidly had scratched his head in confusion What are you doing over on the Northern face of the mountain You are so weak You barely qualify to be in the East wait are you new

Nodding was a struggle with the mangled wreckage of his body but he managed it Then the man laughed and introduced himself as Marco Polo and offered to escort him to the correct location

So Marco Polo basically ignoring Randidly’s confused protests dragged him along on a journey to the Southeastern face of the mountain which Marco believed to be the best place for him The strength was arranged in a circle the strongest were in the West and the weakest in the South with East and then North being transition locations between them

Well we have nothing else to do until our sentences run out Marco would say Why not try and kill each other It gets the blood flowing There’s no sex and no wine here what else is there to life

As Randidly watched Marco effortlessly crush person after person they ran into on the journey he had to admit the man was very skilled with the spear even if he wasn’t very charming or eloquent His huge body vibrated and jiggled with every word he spoke It was hard to remain serious when faced with Marco’s ridiculous comments but Randidly couldn’t help but admire his blunt personality

If you make a mistake why admit it Better to double down insert doubt into the enemy Marco would say That way he might make a costly mistake later and die

Randidly would just roll his eyes but he admired that unashamed attitude It wasn’t something that he could personally manage Ever since he was young Randidly had been very concerned with following rules and remaining reasonable To Marco these actions held no value all that mattered were results and anything you did to achieve them was reasonable

The area around the mountain was huge As they encountered more and more spear users Randidly realized there were probably thousands of people here What was most interesting was their strange attitudes towards each other Initially they were extremely violent and murderous But rather quickly it would be easy to see which in the battle was superior and they would quickly finish the fight and then behave like old friends swapping stories and sharing a meal

Almost wordless during their journey Randidly settled into the role of cook making food for the two spear users Although he wasn’t practicing directly he did learn a lot about fighting with the spear by watching all these fights

By the end of their journey Marco encouraged Randidly to fight and after he did so and lost Marco would step in thoroughly enjoying his superiority After all this area was far too weak for him to be located in

All in all it took almost 4 long weeks of running through the badlands for them to arrive at a level where Randidly stood a chance The biggest reason it took so long was because traveling too close to the prison was inadvisable the guards sometimes patrolled the area immediately around the mountain preparing for people who like Randidly planned to break back into the prison

When they finally reached an area that Randidly could survive in Marco Polo seemed disappointed and vigorously shook Randidly telling him to come visit him Then he ran forward back around the mountain avoiding going through the extremely domineering Western area where Marco would be the one crushed during fights

Randidly had been taking the potion still keeping any notifications from distracting him so he took this opportunity to examine his current status His time in the dungeon had given him great gains in several areas which gave him a sizable amount of PP He put this into the Path of Carnage but it wasn’t enough to reach the next milestone so he settled down to continue his training

The next several months were a bloody time for Randidly Unlike Marco Polo he couldn’t overwhelm the spear users in the area He considered avoiding them but it seemed like Shal wouldn’t want that Rather it was better to fight and train even if it wasn’t in the most efficient manner At the very least it would increase his killing edge making him more decisive in fights

But most of the spear users here had been here for a while and had much higher Skill Levels than Randidly Still Randidly’s stats seemed to be enough to give him a fighting chance Unlike when Marco had fought the fact that Randidly had low skill levels became very apparent to his opponents who seemed to view him with derision for it

But despite that despite the weaknesses in the way he fought Randidly started winning fights He learned to see a chance and seize it He learned to predict his opponent and to use his particularly unique blend of skills to trick and overwhelm opponents In his heart he wanted those victories and as he desired them they began to come to him

The Aether pulsed like a molten heart in his chest catalyzing his growth It was a very beneficial time for him

But the real problem was how to accomplish his second goal Breaking back into the prison and freeing Shal giving him a teacher once more These desperate fights against the wandering spear users was useful but it wasn’t what would give him the most power

Although this confusion tortured him for a long time Randidly stumbled across an answer almost on accident During some downtime Randidly had finally managed to create the Tier V Shadow Rune and it referenced some very interesting text

Quality Leather Bracer Lvl 30 A piece of leather armor worked by a talented individual End +2 Health +25

Engraving of Shadow V 31% Shadows seem to gather around the wearer of this armor concealing him from the eyes of others Effectiveness of surprise attacks increased Reaction +1

Randidly sat back on his heels It had been an exhausting process to create this piece of armor The fact that the percentage was already above 20 was a surprise to him but a pleasant one But it seemed that there was more possible here It did not create shadows around it yet but it might if the quality increased

And in that increased quality there seemed to be a possibility for secrecy perhaps at the level that it could allow Randidly to sneak back into the prison and free Shal But with all of his effort only resulting in this

Shaking his head Randidly settled into the long haul This wouldn’t be as simple a process as he thought

Dart yawned bored at his post Although the position within the prison paid well it was extremely boring Tomkat’s criminals those that possessed the requisite power that the First Spear chose not to just execute them basically escaped within the first few weeks or died and then fought each other to alleviate their boredom rather than trying to fight through and gain their freedom back Afterall while the prisoners by and large didn’t trust each other the guards lived and trained as a unit They were not forces that could be compared

Suddenly Dart’s eyes sharpened and he looked very closely at the badlands below In the twilight after dusk he had sworn that he had seen a strange movement A shadow that detached itself from its position and approached the base of the prison But as he continued to scan the ground he could not find the culprit

Sighing Dart just shook his head The boredom here was even getting to him causing him to see things He couldn’t wait until it was time for him to depart and return to the real time He had a rather serious girlfriend and had been dubious about spending these 6 months away from her But although it was 6 months from his perspective he would seem only to take a 1 week vacation to her

Dart’s face turned ugly Which would be fine if it wasn’t for Calln Calln was a childhood friend of hers that always seemed to hang on her arm and point out Dart’s weak points and flaws Not a talented Spear User himself Calln worked in the administration of Tomkat in an important if without honor position

In fact it was only due to Calln’s prodding that he had came here for the stint Now that he was here Dart wondered if that wasn’t exactly what Calln intended It was just a week but

Feeling slightly dizzy Dart leaned against a rock for support and took several deep breaths It was hard this guard duty He found himself dwelling and brooding more and more He couldn’t escape his disgust for Calln and his fear that that sleazy man would use this opportunity to drive a further wedge between him and his girlfriend

He must have been more upset than he realized because Dart leaned forward and vomited As he straightened slightly concerned the rations for the prison were bad but not that bad Dart found himself face to face with a shadow A shadow with piercing green eyes and a cruel smile

The shadow’s spear was silent and as it entered Dart’s body everything slowly began to fade to blackness As he fell forward Dart recognized that this

This was the end But to his surprise his last thought wasn’t a curse on his killer After all Dart was a spear user himself This was the life they lived That shadow bore him no ill will their paths simply crossed and Dart’s destiny turned out to be the lesser of the two

No what filled Dart’s heart was a burning fist of resentment for Calln for the weakling that dared to whisper in his girlfriend’s ear He hoped that fucker died a torturous death due to illness slowly wasting away

To die by the spear It was the greatest honor But to die weak and a burden on your loved ones

Such a man would never appeal to a woman Not in a thousand years

Chapter 155

After killing the guard Randidly evened out his breathing and removed another bracer from his ring He had been able to successfully engrave 3 bracers with 60% efficacy of Shadow V He had originally assumed only managing it once would be fine but the elemental rune was not a Skill Rune after all it was just an elemental one and using it as a tool to hide came at a high cost

Engraving of Shadow V 60% Shadows seem to gather around the wearer of this armor actively concealing him from the eyes of others Surprise attacks are more effective and the wearer as a small of amount of precognition in regards to incoming attacks Reaction +5 May consume the energy of the Engraving to double the efficacy of the concealment for 10 minutes

At its base the 60% efficacy did make it seem as though people viewed Randidly as though he was in deep shadow They needed to squint and focus on him in order to make out the details of his person This was profoundly useful in a fight where vision became quite important but a watchful guard was still able to spot out Randidly with just wearing the bracer especially while he moved

But he had spent the last week slowly edging closer only at night spending the day meditating and fine tuning his ability to use roots through Root Control even further But ultimately there was a danger zone the area right around the guard’s position was patrolled rather often So he needed to cross that very quickly

There had been a moment when Randidly had tripped losing some of the easy grace with which he had loped across the outward perimeter making a small noise and some unnecessary movement and the guard seemed to notice Randidly had frozen wondering if activating Phantom Half Step a few times would be necessary to rapidly approach Even then it was difficult to say if he would make it in time Perhaps the Spear Advances But the noise and explosion would likely reveal his position anyway

Luckily the guard seemed to have his own concerns and very quickly looked away from the position where Randidly was standing as still as he could Which was good because there was a time limit on the bracer’s shadows and it was swiftly approaching During that time Randidly snuck up the rest of the way and killed the man without letting him make a sound

But perhaps the most disturbing part of the attack had been the intense way that the man had stared at Randidly as he was dying as if he was trying to send a message That man had unfinished business Randidly could tell but now died unsatisfied and angry

It was chilling The regrets and desires that the man died with seemed to hang in the air The man had somehow wanted Randidly to carry them forward but he couldn’t even communicate them So they could only hang in the air and eventually dissipate Although it did certainly seem that some of those desires settled on Randidly’s shoulders weighing him down The same way he could feel the life of the guard he had killed to make it here curling around him

Closing his eyes Randidly promised himself he would not die like that He would pay his debt back to Shal and then return to Donnyton Even if he had to kill to make it so There he would seek out the people that created the system and make them pay for driving so many people to an early grave And for what

It was frustrating that the system prevented him from learning more from Shal what was to come The Calamity loomed and Randidly could do nothing to prepare To help Donnyton prepare

Which wasn’t exactly true Randidly supposed He had largely ignored the messages from those in Donnyton most out of disinterest Lyra’s out of increasing unease at the inane things she talked about but he had sent Sam the runes he obtained from the Willow Tree Spear Style

Randidly grimaced Another debt to repay But that would be for another day life was not so fair that everything would work out easily or even in a way that was palatable to us For now Randidly could not even help to stand against the powers that sought to eradicate that Style

Replacing the consumed bracer with another one with efficacy about 60% he continued deeper into the prison As he dodged past patrols and slipped around corners Randidly began to realize how little the guards actually seemed to care about people breaking into and out of the prison Just like the way his torturer had let him leave once he had broken out of the formation even dropping the key to remove his handcuffs the guards just seemed to want to keep of the facade of protecting the prison

There was only one area where the guards were actually thick and serious looking in the area where Randidly believed the portal out to the real world was Honestly the prison administration didn’t care so much what they did while in here The only reason they had been brought here was the thought that they were too valuable as spear users to simply kill It was the punishment of the monotony for 100 years coupled with the Aether Poisoning they would be subject to when they left returning to the thinner Aether density of the general world

Luckily the higher powered prisoners weren’t kept in that area They had their own private small cabins almost like villas where they were forced to sit wrapped in those chains of a material that Randidly could not even warp in the slightest

Unfortunately the area was more heavily patrolled and Randidly had to go to the windows of each cabin and peer in checking for Shal So he was forced to burn another one of his bracers to escape a rather sticky situation where two patrols had come from both directions forcing him into a corner

The cabins were seemingly endless and some were empty so it was a rather dull exercise of tension Still it did wonders for Randidly’s sneak skill so he couldn’t really complain

Finally after 3 hours of combing he located Shal His master’s eyes flicked open almost immediately as Randidly stood up against the bars

You I am surprised I had doubted whether you would ever have the means to make it here Come break open the door and retrieve the key from the wall then I will be free

Randidly shook his head His master was definitely going to give him a complex whether he meant to or not Shal was a master of the backhanded compliment But then Randidly turned his attention to the door regarding it dubiously It was made out of the same material as the handcuffs and probably far beyond his ability to physically damage But perhaps

Randidly raised a hand and shot an Incendiary Bolt into the lock It practically bounced off completely failing to damage the metal and burned a small hole in the ground before sizzling to a stop

Shal chuckled and Randidly gritted his teeth It really seemed that being trapped here for a few months had brought out Shal’s mean streak Randidly took a deep breath calming himself Then he created a root and tried to burrow upward into the ground beneath Shal’s hut prison

Unfortunately the whole structure appeared to be made of that strange material that resisted damage and he was unable to penetrate it In addition It seemed like ALL of the ground in this area was covered in a layer of the stuff preventing Randidly from being able to create roots at all Huffing in annoyance Randidly left Shal to his chuckles and began to walk around the small hut There were a few times over the next 10 minutes when Randidly had to stop his search in order to avoid patrols but all in all he had completely examined the house

He was forced to set aside all of his grand plans of breaking in by force He finally admitted to himself that it wouldn’t be feasible even with Inspiration to lift the entire little house up and rush out before he was mobbed by guards

Inevitably the quick and dirty answer was easiest Randidly created a Root Spider and used Root Control to warp one of its limbs stretching it and twisting it to reach through the small holes in the bars and move towards the key

But as it did so a small metal disk detached itself from the ceiling and swung down making a buzzing sound The metal disk cleanly sliced through root which began to immediately decay and wither unnaturally After 2 seconds the root had turned to dust and some of that decay followed back along to the Root Spider clinging to the small window Soon it too was just a pile of dust and Randidly was left blinking

Ah perhaps I forgot There are alarms and defenses to prevent such things Shal flicked his fingers at Randidly dismissively which was basically all the movement he could manage bound up as he was It is impossible for the current you Train for a few years and then return I have already calculated your deficiencies accept them and move on I have no choice but to wait

And with that Shal closed his eyes

After weeks of being tortured by Battle Intent chased down by spear users with more skill than him systematically dismembered for sport and finally arriving at a place at his correct skill level and feeling humiliated how close to the bottom he was Randidly was very tired of receiving attitude Shal’s most recent comment made him snap and he narrowed his eyes

Fine then so there are traps Let’s see how powerful they really are

Shal kept his eyes closed for several minutes then slowly opened them still sensing his student hiding on top of his small cell His mouth twisted upward the fool refused to admit when he was beaten It was a quality that could kill him any day now but would serve him well if he managed to live long enough for Willpower to matter

Honestly Shal preferred it this way Breaking down his student’s will and then building it back up from scratch would result in a more powerful resilience It would just take some brutal violence in the mean time to accomplish it effectively And at least the bare minimum in desire from his disciple to be strong but the boy had shown something at least close to that

As for the waiting it wasn’t much of a problem for Shal After all he finally had it after so long of wandering around lost He had been a shell of himself when he had first met Randidly barely able to withstand mental attacks from those orc shamans Acquiring a student had shaken him a bit and caused his memories of the Spear Phantom Style to turn away from his father and turn towards the fact he now had a student

And with that student here there was hope that he would find her Meet Lucrecia and cut her to pieces inches at a time until she died sobbing and

Shal blinked His student had dropped back down from the roof and was approaching the door The air seemed to still and as Shal watched the boy’s eyes changed from a deep forest green slowly glowing like a fire flickering into life and then spreading until his eyes were a brilliant emerald with flecks of violet

Then his student raised his hand

Chapter 156

Shal opened his mouth to say something but his student’s frown simply deepened Chuckling Shal shook his head but remained silent He supposed that everyone deserved the chance to fail Especially foolish students

Once more his disciple created one of those strange root creatures which skittered up the bars of the prison But as Shal watched his disciple created another And then another And then another Soon a dozen of those things were clinging to the wall

His disciple breathed in and then breathed out And then roots exploded almost a hundred of them rushing forward towards the key Instantly this time the small defensive disk flew down quickly splitting into 5 pieces to rip through the roots more effectively His disciple’s eyes narrowed but he did not lose his nerve and the roots split and spread branching and crisscrossing before Shal’s eyes moving in a strange mesmerizing pattern

Something clicked in Shal’s mind watching his disciple manipulate the roots He knew that his disciple had put points in his spell focused areas in order to increase his destructive power In a way Shal was disappointed but he knew that it was a shortcut to power Shal would eventually beat those bad habits out of him and he settle on the spear but it was just a disappointing fact of life for now

But as he watched those bewildering and smooth movements of the roots Shal realized how much his disciple had truly put into his mental stats specifically Control Shal had already noticed that he appeared to possess a knack for spotting incoming threats and responding delicately towards them but he hadn’t really pushed that issue in training But now his mind was racing With this much control

Of his father’s 6 moves Shal had mastered 4 of them and that was mostly because that was how many he had mastered before it had all happened and he had lost himself in the wake of that tragedy Now if he dedicated himself to it while they remained in this prison Shal had no doubt that he could master the rest

And once he did the 5th move the Spear Phantom’s Embrace would likely be the other move that he taught his foolish disciple who focused too much on mental stats It would not possess the bloodthirsty aura of his father’s move but Shal was mildly curious what the boy would do with his own strange images

Of course that wouldn’t help Shal deal with his own problems when he left this place Perhaps the boy could help but it would be rough going especially to recover in time to meet Lucrecia

But Shal’s eyes refocused as even though the small disks were furiously ripping through the roots more and more were branching outwards just clogging up the air Unlike previously his student didn’t just let the severed and withering roots go away he pushed them forward from behind the rot shooting them forward It severely reduced the speed of the root growth but it still made the air thick with them

Through the densely packed roots Shal could still make out those glowing emerald eyes narrowed in concentration

But those disks were merciless They cut and cut and cut pushing the roots slowly back until the air was empty and all of the Root spiders were rotted away Except one

And from that one a thin root emerged running around the window and up to the ceiling rushing to the corner then sliding along the wall over the key now slowly dropping down

As soon as the other roots were destroyed the disks noticed this small root but by then it was too late The root flicked lightly and the key spun through the air flashing as it caught the light of the small illumination stones in the wall Shal opened his hand and caught it

An alarm began to sound Shal’s fingers twisted and he expertly flipped the key up and positioned his arm so the key slid into the lock clicking into place Then he saw the small smug smile forming on his disciple’s face but Shal just sat there unmoving

You must turn the key for me obviously I cannot reach Shal finally said savoring the way the smug expression was very quickly wiped off his disciple’s face Ah yes this was how it must be done Let their confidence grew a small bit and then crush it so it could be rebuilt later stronger and more durable than ever based in truth rather than youthful hotheadedness

Also hurry Shal said almost bored The guards will arrive shortly

Randidly gritted his teeth He would swear that Shal seemed pleased at his newfound helplessness as the alarms blared and undoubtedly people were rushing over to this location That amount of roots were close to his mental limits and already he had a headache beating behind his eyes But perhaps now that he no longer needed to remain sneaky

First things first his mana Randidly removed several mana potions and quickly downed them Within around 10 seconds his mana was almost back to full but Randidly just pointed to the sky and created the Weeping Cloud and continued to drink the potions

Slowly mist formed and condensed above him swirling together as he restored his mana then quickly spreading and creating a light and refreshing rain Around 14 seconds had gone past since the alarms began to ring and Randidly could detect the barely discernable clomp of heavy footsteps approaching

With the rain hitting his back his headache melting away Randidly cracked his fingers and got to work He continued to drink mana potions as he made a stream of root spiders and sent them towards the approaching guards to hide and strike Hopefully that would buy him some time Then he placed more on the wall of the prison

Taking several deep breaths Randidly reached inside of him and felt the pulsing Aether that frigid lava that strange source of life Almost instinctively he began to move in those strange leg movements given to him by that old turtle evoking the image of powerful ancient roots The Aether stirred almost as if it were growing excited

He still remembered some of the things that Mrs Hamilton had told to Lyra as they had raised Lyra’s ability to manipulate her birds of mana It was not about controlling each individually but in fact the opposite All you had to do was set up certain patterns to lessen the load on yourself and concentrate on what was important

So while most roots began to move forward in zigzag patterns one root did the same but with all of Randidly’s will and strength within it In a barely discernable way a dense green energy formed around that root proof of his time spent being repeatedly assaulted by Battle Intents

It seemed the disks did not notice the energy which Randidly realized would have been a dead giveaway They did however seem to remember his previous trick because two started at the outsides of the roots instead of cutting right in as they had previously as if checking for any sneaking roots Meanwhile the rest charged forward heading for the area with the thickest density of roots

As Randidly planned all of the roots split off diagonally but one which straightened and rushed forward The disks swerved towards the larger groups all but one and Randidly’s gaze grew heavy But he had planned for this and prepared for it he just wished he wouldn’t have to take this risk

So as the thin root and the spinning disk of metal rushed towards each other Randidly concentrated his will in the tip which began to glow a deep emerald as all his intent moved to that one area He felt that even this small root was connected the larger tree of life Yggdrasil as his legs trembled and he moved through the motions

As the two items crossed paths Randidly twisted the edge of the root with his will avoiding the initial slice of the disk and smashed it on the flat side with as much strength as the thin root could muster It did send the disk skittering but it wasn’t that far

It was just enough

That root burst forward in a surge of speed rushing towards the key The other disks seemed to notice this streaker and angle themselves downward to intercept it but the other roots cut across blocking their path The disks finally arrived ripping through everything but it was too late The root settled on the key and turned it

Randidly could hear shouts of surprised very near as guards were likely waylaid by his Roots Spiders he did not have much time remaining The strain of using Root Control so much and so fast was wearing at him but the cooling drops of the Weeping Cloud did a lot to control the fraying edges of his consciousness

Shal stood and the chains fell to the ground He walked calmly to the door and opened it apparently freely leaving from the inside Then he held his hand out to Randidly My spear

Randidly blinked then remembered the strange spear that he had seen inside his ring He had been curious about how it had gotten there but he had been so distracted by surviving in this place that he hadn’t really put any thoughts to finding out the answer

He removed it from his ring and marveled at it for a second It was the blue of ice a long slender spear made of sort of strangely flexible crystal almost like a plastic Both ends had spear heads which were a dark indigo The spear was strangely long springy and light based on what Randidly knew from Shal he sorta would have expected exactly the opposite sort of spear as his weapon of choice Probably something like the heavy spear of obsidian that Shal had given him to use that almost seemed famous based on some people’s queer reaction to it

Shal took the spear and spun it It hummed strangely in the air then settled into his hands naturally like a hug from an old friend

There was a gleam in Shal’s eye that Randidly had never seen before he had always been slightly morose sardonic and even dismissive in the way he had spoken to Randidly But what was in Shal’s eyes now was joy And hunger

The guards rushed forward 20 men who looked just as talented as the man that Randidly had killed to earn their place in here and Shal was silently laughing raising his spear

Then it began to blur and Shal simply walked forward Randidly following with an awed expression in his wake

Whereas the original Spear Phantom focused on death as the source of his image and Randidly had chosen the inevitability of time Shal was something different Shal emphasized pursuit and adaptability His was a Phantom that could float through walls and under doors chasing you to the ends of the earth in order to finish the attack His spear bent and twisted almost like the wind working around spears to slash off arms and slice off feet

In their wake they only left a trail of moaning bodies Randidly did notice that Shal was very careful to not kill any of the guards and that probably made sense This prison was meant as a punishment but the jailers did not pursue anyone who escaped from their individual cages After all they would be forced to return to use the portal or else be stuck here forever

That might change however if a spear user went on a murder spree while they were leaving their cell Prisoners killing each other was unfortunate and against the stated goal of protecting talent but ultimately acceptable It was just proof those prisoners weren’t strong enough to be worth protecting Killing guards was another slight on the First Spear of Tomkat which would be met with equivalent force

So they left without any fatalities and were curiously undisturbed after meeting the first group of guards Together they once more descended into the badlands which would be Randidly’s home for a long while

Chapter 157

Shal seemed to possess some understanding of how the badlands worked and had Randidly lead him back towards where he had managed to achieve equilibrium As they returned to the Southeast area the disgust on Shal’s face grew but he said nothing

They settled down in Randidly’s camp after driving off two of Randidly’s weaker rivals with a glare from Shal and Shal instructed Randidly to prepare for the true training would start after he rested

This did not include a time but Randidly knew he would have some time to himself he usually did in times like this so he took his time to brew mana potions and sit under the Weeping Cloud without moving allowing the strange recuperative qualities of the cloud to influence him It really was a profound ability and one that he relied on both to break Shal out of prison and to Engrave at the height of his strength Hopefully he could improve it to the level that he could receive a path for it because Randidly knew that it would benefit him greatly

After he had recovered his peace of mind he looked at his notifications The most exciting one was the notification that the created skill based upon Bert’s leg movements had reached 90% That meant some concerted effort on his part would push it to the next level But at the same time Randidly was willing to take his time and really refine the image for it without pressing forward They would be here for a while after all so there was no need to rush to finishing

Shal would be very annoyed if he wasted this effort which even Shal acknowledged could lead to a useful skill Then he looked over his stats throwing his PP into the unending pit that was Path of Carnage Lately it hadn’t even given him anything for putting PP into it it was just a black hole In his heart Randidly realized it might be better to take the 500 PP reward from the most recent Path of Carnage V and leave but there was a part of him that wanted to stubbornly refuse He had been gaining quite a lot of PP recently and it looked to continue for a while although his growth was slowing down somewhat At the same time

What if it went on forever

Randidly took a view of his full status screen

Health(/R per hour) 556/1010 (+8) (377 (+12

Mana(/R per hour) 12/1249 (118 75)

Stam(/R per min) 601/1140 (148 (+4

Vit 111 (+4)

End 56

Str 88 (+12)

Agi 109 (+12)

Perception 82

Reaction 77

Resistance 53

Willpower 79

Control 149

Focus 104

Paths Newbie 7/7 P Def 10/10 M Supp 10/10 Risk Taker 15/15 Basic Physical Fitness 20/20 Trainee 15/15 Wandering Survivor 20/20 Pathless I 5/5 Pathless II 5/5 Pathless III 10/10 Pathfinder 15/15 Disciple of Shal 37/37 Pathless IV 10/10 Pathless V 15/15 Pathless VI 15/15 Pathless VII 20/20 Pathless VIII 20/20 Pathless IX 25/25 Pathless X 50/50 Pathless 100/100 Mana Bolt Path 25/25 Phys Fitness 25/25 Evasion 35/35 Phantom Thrust Path 40/40 Spear Mastery I 50/50 Monster Slayer I 1/1 Monster Slayer II 3/3 Heavy Blow Path 20/20 Monster Slayer III 6/6 Monster Slayer IV 12/12 Monster Slayer V 25/25 Potion Making I 25/25 The Monster Slayer 100/100 Entangling Roots 40/40 Meditation 35/35 Frontrunner 100/100 Apprentice Path 50/50 Fireball I Path 50/50 Potion Making II 35/35 Spear Mastery II 75/75 Phantom Thrust II 75/75 Empower I 60/60 Root Manipulation I 75/75 Advanced Phys Fitness 100/100 Fighting Proficiency I 80/80 The Lonesome Spear 100/100 Path of Carnage V 415/500

Skills (Soul Skill) Cycle of Rot and Ash Lvl 901

Combat Spear Mastery Lvl 96 The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Lvl 47 (Un) Spear Phantom’s Footwork Lvl 79 Eyes of the Spear Phantom Lvl 59 Phantom Half Step Lvl 29 Heavy Blow Lvl 36 Dagger Mastery Lvl 10 Iron Skin Lvl 42 Dodge Lvl 53 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 66 Block Lvl 40 Haste Lvl 56 Phantom Onslaught Lvl 25 Sweep Lvl 36 Spear Deflect Lvl 10 Empower Lvl 53 Calculated Blow Lvl 30 Roundhouse Kick Lvl 31 Edge of Decay Lvl 32 Ghastly Slash Lvl 29 Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth Lvl 15 Battle Intent Lvl 34 Struggle Lvl 19

The 7 Kata of the Ashen Spear The Spear Advances Ash Trails Lvl 13

Spells Spearing Roots Lvl 17 Mana Bolt Lvl 28 Mana Shield Lvl 24 Root Control Lvl 73 Arcane Orb Lvl 22 Fireball Lvl 30 Magic Missile Lvl 4 Healing Palm Lvl 12 Pollen of the Rafflesia Lvl 18 Summon Pestilence Lvl 33 Mana Strengthening Lvl 38 Wall of Thorns Lvl 10 Soul Seed Lvl ® Agony Lvl 37 Inspiration ® Incinerating Bolt Lvl 27 Circle of Flame Lvl 24 Plantomancy Lvl 25 The Weeping Cloud ® Lvl 23

Crafting Potion Making Lvl 37 Farming Lvl 20 Plant Breeding Lvl 9 Mapmaker Lvl 7 Analyze Lvl 24 Refine Lvl 17 Extract Lvl 6 Mana Engraving Lvl 53

Auxiliary Physical Fitness Lvl 59 Meditation Lvl 56 Running Lvl 25 Sprinting Lvl 19 Sneak Lvl 43 Acid Resistance Lvl 22 Poison Resistance Lvl 21 Pain Resistance Lvl 23 First Aid Lvl 16 Equip Lvl 25 Pathfinding Lvl 18 Mental Strength Lvl 17 Curse Resistance Lvl 15 Fire Resistance Lvl 14 Sewing Lvl 11 Cutting Vegetables Lvl 2 Manual Labor Lvl 6 Digging Lvl 5 Cooking Lvl 29 Grace Lvl 38 Bacterial Regeneration Lvl 35 Superiority Lvl 14 Mental Fortitude Lvl 29 Second Wind Lvl 15 Weather Affinity Lvl 19 Clockwork Mastery Lvl 8

His list of skills continued to grow and it was getting extremely monstrous The amount of PP he could gain over the course of a battle was extremely high simply due to the breadth of skills he could rely on True he had spent several months in here training his spear skills in battle and raising Mana Engraving to above 50 His gains in Battle Intent were also paying dividends Now he was starting to see how Dian could have her intent be so powerful that it could devour his inspired spell

Randidly looked up sharply and was surprised to find Shal standing there

It is time He said simply Nodding Randidly stood and followed him

The next 3 weeks became a blur of pain Randidly never had a chance to fight anyone else in the area because he was constantly dueling against Shal who would harp on his every weakness in his stance and never hesitate to strike at it Time after time Randidly was knocked to the ground his bones shattered

Still Shal just looked at Randidly Randidly gritted his teeth and pushed himself up He wasn’t truly an interesting person before the system He was quiet and disliked interactions with others Without the pressure of classes he never would have met Tessa Without being forced to have a roommate he never would have met Ace Sydney

Well Sydney was a special case They were always connected in a way

But he had been bland sleepwalking through life Then the system had arrived and crushed the previous world and left chaos and death in its wake But also a path that led to power Where before Randidly had just been a quiet guy as he founded Donnyton and interacted with others he slowly discovered his identity he was someone strong

Shal had showed him the basics and then needed him to return and use the strength Randidly had borrowed from him to do him a favor In that Randidly stubbornly found a new version of himself he was a man who would keep his word

No matter what it took That was a type of strength he wanted to possess

So even though his body was barely able to keep his limbs in working condition despite the furious pulse of Aether Randidly stood swaying He settled into a fighting stance and lowered his spear to point the tip at Shal And so it would begin again

Some of Randidly’s previous rivals were curious and watched from afar but after seeing Shal move none dared approach It annoyed Randidly but Shal was clearly too powerful to be here even when he used a regular spear and not his personal spear

As they expected the prison did not pursue them even though Shal was a prisoner a few tiers higher than Randidly So they remained in peace with no disturbances

About a month and a half after they escaped Randidly had grinded his skills mostly Spear Mastery Spear Phantom’s Footwork the Inevitable Phantom Arrives and Bacterial Regeneration enough that he reached 500 in Path of Carnage V and received the familiar notification

Congratulations You have completed the Path of Carnage V Everything around you is blank and barren The loneliness of your path lays across your shoulders like a cloak Your hands stink of blood You finally arrive at a crossroads To your right the path leads towards the keeps of your enemies To your left the untamed wilderness stretches unending as far as your eye can see But before you a rusty sword sticks out of the ground Shall you take the sword and depart from this path here Shall you head to your enemies keeps Shall you head into the wilderness You have encountered an Extending Path Continue or recieve your current reward

For several long seconds Randidly hesitated with his finger over the option to select the sword but then he sighed and lowered his hand He couldn’t bear the thought of remaining on this path without receiving the greatest reward for it There had to be something further

But the next thing would be Path of Carnage VI How could the 6th stage really be the last one Still he would not choose the sword Instead he considered what to take of the other two Sure he did want to be able to attack the keeps of his enemies but that might include skills or qualities that a leader would require That wasn’t truly him He preferred throwing himself into the unknown So he chose the left path into the wilderness

You have passed the Warlord’s Sword The rewards for choosing the Warlord’s Sword +12 Str +10 Agi +5 Vit and End Quelling Blow (Un) Lvl 1

You have passed the Path of the Conqueror Yours is not the bloodletting that inspires others to follow you

Randidly checked and sure enough Path of Carnage V 500/500 was now Path of Carnage VI 500/1000 He could only grit his teeth swearing that he would resist the impulse next time to choose the longer payoff After all if he didn’t receive anymore benefits from this path some very useful paths were beginning to pile up while he remained here

But these things were put out of Randidly’s mind training took all of his attention and effort Shal wasn’t trying to kill him he was just trying to keep Randidly as close to death as possible without crossing that last line At this Shal was very very good

Blood routinely filled Randidly’s lungs His legs were sliced and lacerated and his arms trembled Shal had Randidly use both training spears and the larger obsidian one attempting to master different methods but Shal seemed only endlessly disappointed Still it was obvious that the training was having effects