Chapter 169 (1/2)

The next morning, as Randidly yawned and sat up, he admitted to himself that he had been very emotionally irresponsible lately. He couldn’t simply tough everything out. Better to deal with things in a smart fashion rather than brute forcing his way through everything, both physical and mental problems.

This training in the prison had been to give him the tools to be able to handle most problems, but deconstructing them before he had to was far smarter and more efficient. He had spent far too much time wasting his effort in the past. In that moment, Randidly resolved to be more intelligent about his fights.

He looked around, but the female spear attendant was already gone. Any evidence of their previous night’s… engagements was already cleaned. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one, but it meant that it was a problem that he could deal with later. Instead, Randidly turned his attention to his status screen.

He had only 49 PP to distribute right now, because he had used many immediately before they attempted their breakout, but what he paid attention to was not that number, but the level of his Soul Skill, Cycle of Ash and Rot. More specifically, he looked at how it had changed during his time in the Prison. Randidly’s mouth twisted in a grin. It had been two years, but…

“Helen.” Randidly said aloud, shocking himself. He felt a flash of delight at remembering a name, then a smooth sense of relaxation, followed by a wolfish hunger. Then Randidly shook his head, annoyed. He didn’t even know what last night meant. It would be foolish to try and hope for the next time. Although they would probably spend a lot of time together, as she was his spear attendant…

Again, Randidly was forced to shake his head and force those thoughts down and away. It did him no good to fantasize about that now. Hopefully he would be able to find her later and… somehow work it out. Anyways…

Randidly refocused on his PP, using 10 to finish off Fighting Proficiency II.

Congratulations! You have completed the Fighting Proficiency II Path! The path ahead of you is long, and filled with violence, but you stride forward with confidence. As you proceed, the sky begins to darken and a comet splits above you. A huge chunk of glowing metal crashes to your left, while several small orbs of power fall to your right. Branching Path! Will you choose the large chunk of metal, or the smaller orbs of power?

Scratching his chin, Randidly wondered if there was something like a superior answer here. It probably depended on what the reward was. But if it was a question of whether he needed a single, powerful skill, or several smaller, useful ones… Randidly’s strength without a class came from those skills growing. More skills, as long as they were useful, was probably better.

Anyway, he already had several ‘finishing’ moves, in terms of power. Now it was just a question of training those moves to the point that he could use them commonly in a fight. Randidly hadn't forgotten that he had his own Runic Rarity Skill Set, although he had left it rather untrained during his time with Shal. After all, it was best to focus on the things under Shal that would improve the most. And that was the Spear Phantom skills.

So Randidly opted to go after the smaller orbs of energy.

You have selected to pursue the orbs of power! On the ground are three orbs, two gold, and one clear. As you touch the clear orb, you feel a strange sensation of power and control fill you. Skill Upgrade found! This powerful shard of energy can be used to upgrade one skill. You will be forced to imbue the shard of energy with an image in order to determine the efficacy of the upgrade. Warning, use on skills associated with a powerful image may result in an inferior product. Which skill will you upgrade?

Randidly grinned. Not only was this a useful reward, but it also proved that there were other types of rewards out there, not just things like health and stats. He wondered what sort of things could be upgraded.

Anyways, for his first Upgrade… Active Skills would likely be a better target, just because he relied on them more directly during a fight. Besides, the effect on a Passive Skill might not be all that noticeable until much later, and Randidly was very aware that even after all these improvements, he had a tournament coming up that would likely push him to the limit.

Although both Haste and Empower were moves that were Active, they ended up being more passive in nature, and therefore discounted. The Inevitable Phantom Arrives and the Spear Advances, Ash Trails, were probably already wrapped too tightly in an image for them to work. Spear Phantom’s Footwork and Eyes of the Spear Phantom just weren’t anything that Randidly could get excited about. Sure, they would likely improve his performance further, but…

And he was slightly worried about improving any Spear Phantom skill in general, so…