Chapter 374 (1/2)

To pass the time, Randidly studied the shattered remnants of his 2nd Self Created Skill in the Ashen Spear Skillset. Randidly had done his best to ignore the thing, as it reminded him of the deep wound that he struggled with for several months. Even now, after everything else was more or less dealt with, and the quality of his inner world was much higher, he couldn’t suppress a shiver, thinking about the echoes of that pain.

It was because it was a different sort of pain, than any he had ever experienced. It was a strange pain beyond the physical, and the mental. It was something that threatened to wrest away control of his body from him. Had it became too powerful, that resonance would begin activating other skills, slowly warping him until he died.

Or became an unstoppable monster, his personality shattered, running on pure instinct. And constantly activating his Skills.

Forcing himself to chuckle, and dispel some of that dark thinking, Randidly carefully looked at the floating pieces of himself. They swirled in a circle, hovering in the general area of where the skill once was. Among them, he could intuit their previous shape, knowing how they could be reunited, joined to form a powerful whole once more.

And Randidly had to hand it to himself, that skill had been powerful. It had been enough to make a Master level spear user stumble, even if only briefly, even if it was only against a Skill incarnation. But there was a problem.

A slowly growing problem.

At the time of the accident, Randidly’s skill had been shattered, spreading out into fragments that now floated around, calmly orbiting him. Their previous shape was clear in his mind. But during the intervening time, they hadn’t been idle.

It was likely a useful attribute when a skill was simply damaged, but upon fracturing, the Skill had begun to madly absorb Aether, swelling to form strange, warped shapes. Had the general shape been intact, they would likely have swollen to cover the cracks, then slowly sank back down to normal, once the Skill realized it was working properly.

But without that feedback… Now his Skills had became a series of twisting… well honestly… gnarled roots. They squirmed like maggots, writhing back in forth, slowly swelling as the desperately absorbed more Aether. It was becoming slightly disturbing. Some experimentation let Randidly discover that he could “trim” the shards of the Skill, but doing so eliminated his intuitive understanding of the previous form.

So as long as he let them run wild, they would let him remember how they used to be. But if he tried to return them to that state, his interference would eliminate that understanding, and leaving him holding a weirdly shaped chunk of raw Aether.

Randidly rubbed his eyes in annoyance. There was simply too much to learn about Aether these days…

Feeling exasperated, Randidly focused back on the outside world, and was shocked to discover that it appeared the nerds had been whittled down to two people. Someone had produced bleachers and podiums and it now seemed like…

...there was a debate going on…?

Daniel sat in the middle, his hands folded, seemingly extremely pompous. On his left, was Peggy, of all people, and across from Peggy was a bright eyed, elderly woman, who was pounding the podium. “Knowledge is power! That is everything we stand for! How you could come to such a conclusion is beyond me.”

“It’s simple…” Peggy’s voice was drawling, his pronunciation dragged out. “Look at the most powerful Classes we are aware of: the Sovereign of Ghost. Was that a Class that we earned? No, it was a random Class.”

Shrugging, Peggy continued. “...from the rather mundane Class options that most everyone has access to, combined with the acknowledged fact that our expectations affect the Class and Skill System, there is only one conclusion: the current humanity’s psyche produces weak Classes. We simply don’t have lexicon and lore needed to really invent an emblematic and powerful Class. There are obviously exemplary individuals, but they were exemplary before they obtained their Class.

“Before he obtained his Class, Glendel was a timid, average man. Now… he’s one of the most mysterious and profound individuals in Donnyton. The random options allowed him an escape from the way he was raised. Did he even imagine a ghost sovereign before? Of course not. He could only see laborers, and things popularized by role playing games, warriors, rogues, priests, mages, etc. Which is why I believe it would be most prudent to hide information relating to Classes from the public.

“If we do so, public opinion will run wild, thinking up Classes far greater than the disappointments of reality. I think Mr. Ghosthound has been invaluable in this regard, inspiring growth in new and unexpected ways.”

Peggy bowed towards Randidly in a very polite manner, which was strange, after Randidly had sealed away his Skill during the combat portion, giving Alana the victory she deserved. But still, this man probably thought Randidly was someone to be wary of, and to watch. A little flattery never hurt.

But it did leave a weird taste in Randidly’s mouth to be on the receiving end, especially because this Assessment was his idea...

“...You have a flaw in your argument.” The elderly woman said, leaning back with a relaxed smile on her face. “At the core… you are saying… that the unconscious mind can surpass the conscious in terms of creativity and ingenuity. And that just isn’t accurate.

“The great accomplishments of the past century, the things that pushed the cutting edge of technology further, were deliberate acts of man. Accidents, perhaps, and experiments, but it was what the people did with those small truths gleaned from coincidences that shaped the world. In the same way, we cannot know what tidbit of information we have from the Classes will eventually inspire someone; I’m just confident in the belief that someone will be inspired. Knowledge should be disseminated as much as possible.”

Peggy folded his arms. Daniel tapped his chin, then looked at Randidly.