Chapter 121 (1/2)

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

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

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

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

“Shal…?”

****

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

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

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

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

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

But now he had been pulled to…. somewhere, interrupting that time.

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

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

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

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

“How did you summon me here?” Randidly asked.

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

“...So this isn’t the Nexus?” Randidly asked.

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

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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