Chapter 122 (1/2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which was not a place where Randidly was now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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