Chapter 188 (2/2)

Randidly went to his window and opened it. Below, many people with varying shades of skin walked around, talking, laughing, shouting, bargaining with each other. Here, not everyone had skin with a red tint. More were orange or yellow, denoting their higher status. There were even a noticeable group with pale green and light blue skin colors. Deardun truly was a tier higher than Qtal.

Which didn’t necessarily translate into higher skill levels, but rather superior skills and resources…

Randidly chuckled. There was so much he didn’t know about this place, and yet he was thrown here rather directly. He really had to work on his bad habit of being so focused on his task that he forgot to ask questions. So many problems could be solved if he were simply willing to talk more directly with the people around him. But his bad social habits still remained. He preferred not to ask a question when he figured the answer would arise naturally over the course of normal interaction.

Claptrap had stated before he left that he had chosen this inn due to the training facility on the roof, and sure enough, when Randidly stuck his head outside and looked up it was one of the strange mushroom buildings. Smiling ruefully, Randidly left his room and wandered the halls for a few minutes before he found the stairs.

He arrived in the training hall to find it a wide, brightly lit white bulb, around the size of 4 basketball courts. There were even several other people diligently training, glistening with sweat, and what seemed like a youth training course, where an old man was bellowing at a half dozen youths. There were wooden dummies to attack and even foldable partition walls to spread if you wanted privacy with your training.

All the partition walls were taken, so Randidly went to the far side of the training area, where there was a straight stretch of space fairly open, and pulled out one of his last bone spears made for him by Sam.

He took the time to feel the smooth shaft that fit so well into his hand, smiling at the memory. It would be strange though, to return to Donnyton and act so nostalgic when it had only been a month or two from their perspective. Although he supposed that the squads were constantly going into the dungeons, so time would be rather extended for them too. And Randidly knew that the Tier III Raid Boss had descended, attacking the town and their neighbor, after he had left. But it was hard to be worried. The town was strong. Not just because they had learned from him, although that was part of it.

The town was strong because they wanted to be, because they were willing to put in the time and sweat to earn that strength. Things would change later, as some of the novelty of the system wore off, but for now, everyone was so caught up in the changes that there was peace, and internal consistency within the town.

Hoping that would stay the same, Randidly began to move through some basic stretching exercises. As he did so, he couldn’t help but overhear the words the elderly man was yelling at the youths, for they were the closest group also using the training ground.

“Sharper! With more force! Do you think an enemy is going to just let you take turns striking?!? You need to overwhelm the opponent! Use our hips!” The old man’s eyes were bulging wildly as he shouted down at the youths, and dutifully, they struggled to fulfill his expectations. It was adorable in a way, to Randidly, but also confusing. Because it was so far from his own experience being instructed by Shal.

Shal did not try to explain a problem, he exploited it until Randidly learned his mistake with his body, and naturally sought to rectify it. As a method, it achieved an incredibly efficient result, although it required an amount of violence that perhaps was unpalatable to some.

WIth a sure grip on his spear, and with the warming streams of energy flowing up through him from the soles of his feet, Randidly began to train in earnest, focusing on basic spear moves. All the while, his will was pressing as hard as he could, attempting to impress on the air around him that, like time, his spear moves were an irresistible force. He would continue to flow forward regardless of resistance.

He activated Spear Phantom’s Footwork and teleported several feet to the side. No area was outside the reach of time. It claimed all, touched all, ended all. Time was an agent that had been called many names, even including death. But it was more than that, and it was grander than that. I was the continuum that we all existed upon, as we struggled futilely to avoid our end.

And just like all things, time would someday come to an end, taking us all with it.

Randidly lowered his spear, tightened his grip, and used the Inevitable Phantom Arrives. His spear moved, not slowly, but surely not quickly. It was a speed that seemed perfectly aligned with the state of the world, like it was just one more force of nature. It was a thrust that one could look at and fear, but doing so would bring you face to face with the fact it was impossible to avoid.

Such was the strength of the blow that the air rippled lightly after completion, spreading a small amount of distance. It wasn’t much, but the elderly man stiffened and paused in his tirade, and then turned and gave Randidly a small look. Almost imperceptibly, the man bowed slightly. Taken slightly aback, Randidly bounded slightly in return.

Then the man returned to shouting and Randidly felt strangely relieved. In some ways, this world was a much simpler place than Earth. That man sensed his strength, acknowledged it, and then returned to his previous activity. The lack of interaction was such a relief.

Humming quietly, Randidly returned to his training, slowly using the methods and exercises employed by Marco Polo to push his body to the limit.