Chapter 140 (2/2)

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.