Chapter 384 (1/2)

Even though part of his attention was focused on the woman, most of Randidly’s attention was on the Cathedral around her. Immediately after walking in here, he had felt it, the thick layers of Mana Engraving through the entire building, the funneled ambient Aether down towards that resting space.

Even now, with the Aether slowly being drained, there was a thick layer there. No wonder this was the building that allowed people to Reclass; it had such a high cost, and a powerful upkeep. According to Donny, they needed to gather thousands of contribution points to fuel it each week, likely to flood the place with this placid Aether.

It wasn’t as pure as his own, but some of the… harsher restrictions had been removed from it. For creating a Skill, this was also a very useful area. But…

Upon taking stock of the energy around him, Randidly closed his eyes and opened himself to the world, in the smallest way. Due to the vast difference in energy pressure Aether rushed out of him, blooming like a flower in the air around him. He could feel the way, instantly, it warped the space, a dose of concentrated power that came into the world. It was still formless, of course, and an average person would miss it, but…

All of the people who were in the Cathedral were not average people. When he released the energy, they stumbled backwards, stunned by the sudden explosion. But very quickly, the Aether that Randidly released was caught in the pull of the Cathedral, and was dragged down to pool around the woman.

Ignoring the people around him, Randidly focused his senses, keeping his eyes closed. Very delicately, he felt the Aether forming a cocoon around the woman, as she held the stone. Then he felt her hands tighten.

The stone cracked, and then disintegrated.

Immediately, Randidly was stretched to the limit, trying to keep up with what was occuring in front of him. A small part of him marveled at his mental acuity, and he realized that the Indomitable Spirit of Yggdrasil had a very powerful mental component. And Randidly said a small prayer of thanks for that.

A strange apparatus of Aether sprung out of the stone, almost fully formed. Immediately, Lucretia and Neveah leaned forward, scrutinizing it, while Randidly manipulated his sense to cover as much of it as possible, probing its shape. Very quickly, the apparatus twisted and folded in on itself, becoming smaller and snapping onto the woman.

In a way, it reminded Randidly of a breathing tube for divers, because after the thing snapped into place, Aether began to flow back and forth through the woman, clean, pure, shapeable Aether.

The woman frowned. The apparatus began to glow.

A small point in the air above the woman began to shimmer, and there was a ripple in the air, like of god sighing. Then the glow around the Aether apparatus brightened, and different portions shifted again.

“Catalyzing… improving mental capacity, now applying a small amount of…. something…” Lucretia whispered, her eyes narrowed to slits.

Pain. Came Neveah’s reply, almost casual, although there was a certain frenzied look in her eyes. Applies pain. Pressure.

“A mental catalyst…” Awe was in Lucretia’s voice as she spoke. One of the newly brightened portions of the Aether apparatus began to glow even brighter. The frown on the woman’s face deepened.

Randidly took care to breath, his senses tingling. Focus, he needed to remain focused.

Aether began to move suddenly, becoming a huge whirlpool, swirling around their figures, sucked very quickly into the singularity that was swiftly forming just above the woman’s chest. Now, Randidly began to frown. Because although he wasn’t as intuitive as Lucretia or Neveah, he understood Aether, and understood how Skills were shaped, after his had been injured for several months.

That Skill that was slowly forming, which was no more than a gentle curve of energy in the air right now, was quite a bit of time away from becoming an actual Skill. It needed to develop and refine itself further. And yet…

And yet the Aether in the air had almost been completely thinned out. The area around her was swiftly being sucked dry by that greedy Skill.