Chapter 353 (2/2)

‘This girl is a genius…’ Lucretia whispered, quickly making notes of the patterns in Lyra’s body. But the foreign voice brought him back to himself. Lyra was making use of the pain yes, but it was still painful. So painful that she was sobbing silently, looking at him with her burning eyes, insistent and furious.

The questions.

Randidly glanced down at him. Lyra knew him, and he trusted her. What was she doing…? That was probably the goal the first question, then. To inform him of his role. She was… attempting to dislodge the giant apparatus here, so he could absorb it…?

And the second question… after reading it, Randidly frowned. Not any help in what she meant for him to do, but… perhaps….?

The final question… even more general, seemingly even more useless. But strangely focused enough that Randidly was sure the System would act, moving to stop Lyra from speaking, and would accomplish their goals. So then, it was the first two questions that were important, because in all likelihood, the System wouldn’t let her answer the third one.

Slowly, Randidly said. “Why… is… the Creature… trying so hard to use me…?”

“...She...Fears…. The System… seeks her…. Wants her… power….” Lyra could barely speak, and the words were a breath of a dying child. But Randidly grabbed them out of the air, focusing on the information. The Creature was afraid. The System was looking for her, actively it seemed. That’s why she was so desperate, why she continued to push him. Although how she intended to truly use him was a bit...

The stones of the fake castle around him were withering and transforming, being warped by the effect of the pressing forces of Aether. It really seemed like the System was angered by that question. Which was slightly peculiar, because… if it was aware of the subject matter, to censor it, and the System was really seeking the Creature… wouldn’t it be able to find her…?

And perhaps she would be content in sitting in a Raid Dungeon, forgotten by the System if the Zone around it died…?

All of these questions spiraled together in Randidly’s mind. Lyra’s earlier talk of inciting action, then the abrupt switch to these questions… What was the point of the earlier talk then? If the first question was aimed to give him a concrete goal, then perhaps that earlier talk was general, safe information she could give him, for a broader goal…?

To change the ending, she had hinted. But the ending of what…? Was it simply enough to continue to incite…?

The present demanded Randidly’s attention, and he returned to it. At least the answer to the second question did make the third question make more sense, although not enough. “What would the System do with that power?”

“The System-” Lyra began, her breath more Aether than air at this point, but the Aether streams began to howl and seethe. A huge force pressed down. The Aether construct cracked and shattered around them, muffling most of the force, btu even Randidly was smashed backwards.

Lyra’s body was flung away, as the forces rushed towards her, pressing inwards, and as Randidly recovered he found himself floating mid air, slowly beginning to fall, huge chunks of Aether around him. He wasn’t sure what they would do when they dropped on Donnyton below, but…

Gritting his teeth, Randidly hoped Lyra knew what she was doing, and reached outward with his Aether Manipulation, clumsily seizing the huge chunks of Aether that were falling around him. They began to slowly drift towards him, but it wasn’t enough.

Randidly growled. Inspiration.

For the first time, Randidly was paying attention to what was going on with his Aether senses, so he could feel how the part of his soul that seemed to control and generate mana, modulated by the System, almost exploded, and a flood of a strange, ethereal substance streamed out, moving towards the Aether Manipulation Skill.

It itself wasn’t Aether, but it flooded into the Skill, and the Skill swelled, growing larger and larger. Randidly’s eyes burned, and this time he didn’t reach, he pulled the entire sky towards him, creating a howling maelstrom of ambient Aether and the remnants of the Creature’s construct, absorbing them all.

Everything was happening so fast, so only Randidly’s battle reactions were kicking in, driving him forward, ignoring the why for his actions, though he would probably want to dwell on him later. No, for now he just defaulted to that first question.

He trusted Lyra. Although they had probably only had one or two minutes of interaction before she shifted, forcing them towards this, that he knew for sure. He trusted her.

So… he was the Inciting Action, eh? He would need to look into that.

When he crashed to the ground, his vision was flickering in and out, because in his chest, those strange, huge chunks of Aether were inside of him, fizzing and spitting, as the Aether from his Aether Crossroads rejected it. It certainly was different a different feel, something alien and calculating and twisting and endless-

Neveah acted, creating a bubble, and area of no man’s land around the new Aether, where they could slowly mix, rather then pressing against each other so violently. The fizzing stopped, the pain departed. A problem not solved, but addressed. And now Randidly could turn his attention to other things. What the fuck had just happened…? Where did Lyra go….?

But before that… Randidly looked around. He had landed in a farm, cratoring the entire thing. He scratched his head awkwardly. Good thing he had a lot of clout around town…