Chapter 186 (1/2)

So, with very little else to do, Randidly and his three spear attendants set out for Deardun, even though it would only take them two days to reach the other city at their normal pace. Or at least that was what Claptrap assured them, who was also coming.

At first Randidly was slightly hesitant to allow Claptrap to join them, mostly out of worry that he would slow them down, but Claptrap seemed insistent, and honestly it was convenient because Claptrap was the only one who had traveled often to Deardun before. Helen stated that she was from a nearby area, but she quickly became quiet as Randidly pressed, her eyes glinting with some of that explosive flintiness that was one of the first things that Randidly noticed about her.

As their relationship was still strange, what with neither of them speaking of what happened, Randidly let it go and graciously accepted Claptrap as a guide.

It seemed that more than just staying around Randidly and selling more of his Engraved armor, Claptrap had another motivation for returning to Deardun, but Randidly couldn’t bring himself to care. There was the strange worry about being effectively alone in this strange world, and there was also the raw fury he felt towards Shal still. What the fuck was he doing?

So they set off, but Claptrap wasn’t their only extra traveler; the wispy man who Teliph fought and defeated also came with them. After recovering from his wounds, he came and threw himself at Randidly’s mercy, asking to be his spear attendant. Randidly instantly refused. He already had enough of these people. He didn’t want a whole parade coming, following him around.

Unfortunately, the man promptly turned to Teliph and asked to be his spear attendant, and Teliph accepted. Which, Randidly supposed, was for the best, because Teliph was still struggling with his Aether Sickness, which was slowly growing worse. Apparently the severity of the sickness was determined by a few parameters, like exertion, skill levels, and stat levels. But stat levels earned the lion’s share of the Aether consumption, just a little behind exertion. Although Teliph had been in the prison longer than most, he had not leveled in there, just vastly increased his stat levels. As such, as long as he kept his exertion low, his weakened Aether connection was still enough to support his increased stat levels.

Which would explain why Shal’s problem seemed much more severe. And everyone seemed to understand that they didn’t bring up the fact that Randidly didn’t seem affected at all by Aether Sickness. It was just a fact of life, for his spear attendants, and Randidly didn’t want to dwell on it for too long.

‘Heretic…’ Randidly brooded, as the group looped around a small trail through the woods above Qtal, departing. Then he shook his head and sighed. There was something strange going on with that, and with the Judgement. There was a way to do what Randidly had done somehow, that was something predicted by the system, although seemingly discouraged. And it involved taking Aether from other people. But the details….

But they continued to travel, and Randidly put those thoughts to the side. As he worried, Claptrap ended up being the limiting factor on their speed. By midnight, Claptrap was already trembling and exhausted, barely able to continue. Helen sneered, Teliph snorted, and the male spear attendant looked haughty, but Randidly decided to stop, so they took a three hour break.

Claptrap was incredibly relieved and thanked him profusely, but that just made Randidly more uncomfortable and he waved him away. Then, during the break, Randidly removed the next volume of the technical encyclopedias given to him by the Willow Tree Spear Style, reading carefully.

Randidly had to read carefully. It was like the authors of the books assumed that not only had the reader thoroughly read the first volume, but also possessed an uncanny level of mastery and understanding of the concepts contained within. Randidly was familiar with them, because he very seriously studied the text, but he was well below the level the second volume demanded. But rather than quit, he simply got out the first volume and used it as a reference, slowly plowing through the pages. Eventually, he got fed up, and went over to a still exhausted Claptrap.

“...Paper. Do you have some? And a pen.”

Randidly’s words were sharp, as some of the frustration he felt from the material showed through. Claptrap gulped and nodded.

So, almost two years later, Randidly created a makeshift desk on a stump and began to take very thorough notes on Engraving, as if he was studying it in class. The similarities towards his late night study sessions in college brought him some amusement, although he had never sat out under the stars like this and studied. Which was a shame. There was a life and a vibrancy to the outdoor world that didn’t distract, but rather…

The sights and sounds… it all crystallized a hot contentment at life, and living in the moment. And a great hunger to continue living. Although Engraving wasn’t a direct skill that would help, Randidly couldn’t help but believe there was a great secret hidden in it. If it really was somehow connected to the Aether constructs within him…

If the Engraving hinted at a larger, universal language of the system…

But the more that Randidly read, the less likely that seemed. Because the second volume was making clear that the meanings of the symbols seemed completely independent of the shape. Although there were certainly technical adjustments you can make between different geometric shapes in the connections, in order to make the Engraving more efficient, the Engraving’s effects couldn’t really be predicted by the shape.

Some of the discussion of this became extremely esoteric. Like one philosopher hypothesized that rather than a language, Engraving was a vast map of understanding. Engravers only used tiny bits of the map at a time, conveying a specific meaning, but the meaning didn’t stem from the specific shapes, but rather from context.

This was criticized on the grounds that there was no real proof, or even a shred of evidence that this was the case, but it was widely heralded as an important theory for advancing the study of Engraving.