Chapter 171 (2/2)

As they gathered supplies, Randidly found himself face to face with Helen. Their eyes met. Randidly flushed, then opened his mouth to say something, but Helen, stone faced, walked past him, whispering, “Don’t you say a fucking word.”

After Randidly had recovered from his jaw dropping, he shook his head and smiled. He supposed that was for a best. It wasn’t until after that he had realized how much he had needed that, as an outlet to relax and release aggression. In a way… it wasn’t personal, he supposed, so it would be silly to expect it to be anything else.

Besides, he didn’t feel feelings, he thought, just… a powerful, animal attraction to her body. So it would be pointless to push the issue. Better to just let it pass.

After they packed, they loped forward, running to Qtal. They were going to stay in Qtal for a short period, before proceeding to the Northern Region capital, Deardun, in a few days. Which would give Randidly time to give Claptrap some of the Engravings he had been working on during his time in the Prison, and probably experiment with a few related things.

They made good time, and arrived at Qtal in a few hours. Guided by a strange instinct, Divvit led the way, moving towards his boat as if by sixth sense. They swiftly came upon it, only to find that it had somehow been taken over by a merchant, who had gaudy decorations and torches everywhere, making it look like a walking funhouse.

As if not the least bothered by the fact that someone else was in his home, Divvet walked onto the boat and stomped his feet twice.

“The one who dares lay claim to this boat… come, raise your Tassle so I might sink it into the depths of the sea.” Divvet’s words echoed, and several figures appeared on nearby boats, whispering to each other. But no one came from this boat’s interior. Divvet’s face darkened.

So they, almost wordlessly, began to toss all the shit that someone had taken great care to set up on the boat, right into the sea. There were even some valuable seeming equipment and materials, But under Divvet’s furious eye, no one dared to take any of it for themselves. There seemed to be some dishonor associated with what was happening, here, so Randidly simply followed the lead of others and threw everything into the sea.

Such was the value of the items that some people from nearby boats dived into the water and began to grab some of them, but Divvet sneered down at them, and began dumping more stuff down onto those people.

“If they fucking want this trash, let’s help them drown in it,” Divvet said, and the spear attendants jumped to it with alacrity. Mostly, Helen began to throw heavy items down at the swimmers very effectively. At one point she seemed to knock a flailing woman unconscious, who then had to be rescued by another swimmer.

Rather pleased with the situation, Divvet gave Helen a pat on the back.

Shal beckoned Randidly over as the game continued with enthusiasm. “This is one of the rare times I shall say this, but rest. Once the fights start in Deardun, they will not stop for a week. You must prepare provisions and materials to last you at least that long. Be thorough. The competition…. is difficult to survive.”

With that rather confusing tidbit, Randidly walked down into his old cabin, which was filled with barrels. After moving them all up to the deck, he settled into the small wooden room, and began to breath. Then he grimaced.

It was… strange being here. His Golden Roots of Yggdrasil couldn’t reach up through the water, so he felt oddly tired all of the time. Still, it seemed that Deardun was on the continent, so at least there wouldn’t be that problem during the tournament.

Randidly carefully removed his last remaining bracer that was Engraved with a Shadow Rune with over 60% efficacy. He looked at it for a long time, frowning. It was true that he knew that there would be problems with the Engraving Guilds, but that the small time nature of the things that he was doing would probably mean their response would be too slow to catch him before he went back to his own Cohort.

But the Shadow Rune was possibly different. Some of the effects from it…

And this was even the most basic version of the Shadow Rune. So Randidly made the decision not to share his ability to produce the Shadow Rune with Claptrap. It was likely for the best. Besides, considering the new varieties of Runes that Randidly had obtained, he didn’t think that Claptrap would have any complaints.

Randidly began to consider 4 specific ones. The Gazelle, which added Agility and Perception. The Ox, which gave Vitality and Endurance. The Dolphin, which produced Intelligence and Control. And The Preying Mantis, which would assist in Willpower and Focus. With these 4, in addition to Bear, Fish, and Dragonfly, he could cover a lot of types of stats at once.

But before he actually began to Engrave, Randidly read some of the technical guide left to him by the Willow Tree Spear Style matriarch. The knowledge was pointlessly obtuse, it seemed to Randidly, but he pressed forward, feeling absurdly like he was studying. He had been able to read some during his time in prison, and as he pressed forward then, he was able to finish the first volume of the set.

He didn’t feel any different, but he definitely knew a lot more about how to layer energy in deep curves, and how it assisted the efficacy of the Engraving. Then, after he finished, Randidly snapped the book shut and checked the time. It had almost been 24 hours since he used Inspire, so he would have access to his mana once again soon. So he walked up towards the deck, to Engrave. After all, the soft rain of the Weeping Cloud was part of his process now. It was a part of what was necessary.