Chapter 364 (2/2)

“Raina.” Randidly said simply, remembering the strange and fearful power that this woman had with her singing, and with her gaze. Even now, cloaked and masked, he still couldn’t shake the strange positive disposition he had towards her.

Still, that wasn’t her fault, and based on her state of dress, the woman did her best in order to restrain the effect that she had on the people around her. What was fascinating about it was that as he said her name, he could literally see the change in her aura. The air around her warped and shifted with her emotions. Not in a way that would affect him, but that would make all of her reactions clear. There was a flash of joy, then hesitation and uncertainty, and finally settling on a strangled resignation.

Randidly did his best not to grimace. That was just another burden that she had to carry, an unfortunate side effect of her Skills. But it was something that Randidly understood, from his use of Anguish. He knew, implicitly, that as the Level of the Skill increased, some of it began to… shine through. If he let it become one of his primary Skills, it would create a constant aura around him.

In the same way, something like the Breath of the Spear Phantom, if it became his ultimate move, would create a sense of suffocation in everyone around him. Randidly also believed that this effect would be magnified by a high level in Battle Intent, which made it easier for him to warp the world around him.

For now, as most of his levels were in things like Spear Mastery and Spear Phantom’s Embrace, Randidly knew that there was a strangely distant and sharp feel to himself.

Now, facing this girl, and after writing those letters, the reasoning for why most people were treating him this way came into focus. There was an air about him now, something that he had never experienced, but… it would only continue to grow. Well, perhaps not. It seemed to be affected by the difference in average Level, so as long as the gap between their Skill Levels didn’t grow…

“...Randidly. I’d heard the rumors, but… welcome back.” Raina said softly, her voice sweet.

It was just another expression of that flood of powerful emotions. It made Randidly think that perhaps Raina wasn’t the siren that she was always assumed to be. She was just excellent at projecting her emotions, and humans were inherently weak to emotions. Thoughts for another time, however.

Simon’s small bird floated forward, towards Raina. For her part, she narrowed her eyes at the small, clearly fake bird, but said nothing as it floated over and settled next to her, regarding her curiously.

Randidly slowly followed. “Thank you. I have something of a weird question… but I wanted an opinion of someone who didn’t really… run things here. How is… Donnyton? Is everything alright?”

Honestly, Randidly wasn’t sure what he should talk about, so he settled back to the business he had spent all this morning researching. Besides, Mrs. Hamilton was efficient and thorough, but… Randidly trusted less sophisticated opinions as the true barometer of the health of a location. Or at least he had before the System came.

Settling next to Raina on the rock as she seemed to consider, Randidly looked at the paper in her hands, seeing an extremely detailed drawing of the valley below, showing Donnyton’s sprawling expansion below them.

The valley that Donnyton was situated in ran from the Northwest to the Southeast, with the hill range where they were sitting to the South, giving them a pretty decent view of the way the Village had developed. Although the Southern side of the valley was relatively impassible, the Northern side was just small, rolling hills.

Starting from the Southeastern corner, along the valley there was first the guardhouse and tower at the mouth of the valley, and then the ale houses and wineries. After that, the valley transitioned into mostly farmland, which extended to the Northl in a haphazard way, as different farmers struck out from the main track of farmland in the valley, taking over some of the Northern hills. Kiersty and her Arbor cult were a part of those little expansions.

Luckily, it seemed they had upgraded Donnyton’s area of safety that prevented monster spawns, or else those expansions would need to be more diligently guarded. After that, the valley transferred to the original location of their base, that small cabin and farm that Randidly lived in. Beyond that there were now huge training and muster areas, along with the beginnings of a relatively upper class housing expansion, with glittering walls and well painted fences in ridiculous styles.

The next big feature was the plateau where they had built up the encampment of Donnyton, and actually founded the Village. These walls had been torn down and expanded and upgraded, so now there was stone reinforced with wood and metal around the main part of the Village, with huge towers at every corner with ballistas.

Which was something of an overkill, because it had been a long, long time, based upon what Randidly had heard, since anything really had attacked the base. But it was a forward thinking strategy, and Randidly appreciated it. This was not the end of the wrenches that the System wanted to throw in the works