Chapter 74 (1/2)

Randidly looked out from the cleanly split building, his face grim.

He was standing in a room he hadn’t been in for almost 8 months, but was still intimately familiar. Or at least, he was standing in the first 6 inches of it.

Randidly grimaced. This was Sydney’s dorm room. The place that both Ace and Sydney had likely been, curled up in bed, watching a movie like they did every Friday night until he got out of class.

He had gone to Tessa’s place instead of his usual ritual of proceeding directly to Sydney’s room, so it was probably just starting to get late, and they had probably been starting to wonder where he was. Or honestly, perhaps they hadn’t even noticed the extra 45 minutes slip by, absorbed in whatever it was that they were watching on the TV.

Either way, it didn’t matter. Everything after that 6 inches was empty space. Most of the room had been teleported elsewhere, at whatever location the other portion of Rawlands University had ended up.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Randidly stepped forward and off into the void, dropping the 7 stories to the ground. He hit the ground with a crash, staggering a little, but quickly straightened and walked away, back towards the high school he had found nearby. While he was scoping out the high school, he had seen the familiar sign for the dorm, and a flash of hope rose in his heart.

Not that they would be there, still in the building, obviously. But that it would be enough proof that they were here, hiding away somewhere.

Randidly shouldn’t feel as disappointed as he did, and chided himself for it. But…

He closed his eyes. And what would he even say, if he would see them now? Sydney’s ultimatum still weighed on his heart. It was why that last week, before the system arrived had been one of the most stressful in his life, culminating with him breaking up with Tessa. He had made a decision, perhaps a spur of the moment one, but still a decision during his night class. But now it had been so long that he had lost the thread of it with the passage of time.

If he saw her now… if he saw Ace now…

Releasing a long held breath, Randidly smiled. It was relieving, in a way. Now he knew for sure that they weren’t here, in Franksburg. He had time.

And in that time, Randidly swore himself he would grow strong, strong enough to face them both.

Then he opened his eyes and walked into the high school, heading directly towards the chemistry lab. For now, strength. Growth. Progress. It was better to focus on the present.

There were three main reasons that Randidly had decided to spend the day today like this. The first was that it seemed like jobs would be scarce, with the huge Freedom Fighter operation. Second, he was no longer sure that he could easily find enough variety in jobs to be worth spending another day earning PP at one. And finally, it could be said that the real reason that everything happened was due to his Potion Making.

He had brewed that potion that had dispelled the strange curse the shaman’s had placed on Shal, which had started everything.

But since then, he had left Potion Making by the wayside. Sure, he continually made better and better potions, earning him several levels, but the real growth in his skill had occurred while trying out new recipes.

His attempts in the past few weeks to find recipes had all ended in failure, but he was beginning to suspect that it was due to his preconceptions getting in the way. Randidly had originally assumed that all potions were variants of the two base materials, Red and Blue Energy Shards, but his brief stint as a chef got him to thinking.

In a way, what the system did was simplify the inputs in life, and quantify the outputs. That is, of course, in addition to breaking most physical limits and laws, but that was secondary. It made everything work in a system.

What had thrown him off, Randidly reflected as he began to set out beakers, was the origin banana. The profound effect of the juice from that plant had made him believe that the two colors were the important factors. But it seemed that simply wasn’t true; the Origin Banana was a rare exception, rather than the rule.

As such, in order to progress past this level of Potion Making, he needed to identify the other base units of the potion system. Once he had those….

But he set those thoughts aside for now. He already had some theories about what they would be, but he wanted to try a few things first.

****

Kiersty looked on, bemused, as the strange Thorn creature crawled all over Arbor, wrapping his thorny vines around it. She could feel Arbor’s annoyance and helplessness through their bond, as it was forced to put up with its elder brother’s teasing.

Finally satisfied, Thorn climbed down and wriggled over towards Kiersty. She wanted to stumble backwards, but knew this was necessary from Arbor’s whispers. So gritting her teeth, she allowed Thorn to come close, and with surprising delicacy, prick her with a single thorn. It absorbed her blood cleanly, the creature shivering slightly.

Then, as per the instructions from Arbor, she raised her hands over Thorn and used her new skill, Blessing.