Chapter 385 (1/2)

When he saw the description of the Skill, Randidly’s eyebrows rose. On the one hand it reminded him a lot of Simon’s Skill, in terms of flexibility. It did not present the same ability to form an Astral projection that Simon’s Skill did, but Simon was limited in only being able to explore the world in a linear manner, slowly spreading his influence out over a Zone. And he could only focus on one portion at a time.

Meanwhile, this Skill seemed like it was more possible to already know what you wanted to see, and look, and pierce through everything between your two positions… and depending how well you knew how to look, it was possible to see something. Fascinating.

Almost out of reflex, Randidly used his Aether sense to feel along the surrounding area, quickly locating Simon’s tiny bird avatar. Unsurprisingly, it was hovering around Thea, watching her as she gazed, wide eyed, at the coughing woman. Although for a while after they arrived in Donnyton Simon had paid attention to Randidly, very quickly his focus narrowed. The poor kid. Randidly wondered if Thea realized the crush he had on her.

Back in the present, the woman was explaining with an excited voice her notifications, as she received a short Path that seemed to be a reward from it. It was, after all, an Ancient Rarity Skill, and the System rewarded their creation. It seemed that hers was the 301st Ancient Rarity Skill to be created.

Which wasn’t a large number, but it wasn’t a small one either. It gave Randidly a bit of hope, and made him realize that although his circumstances seemed extraordinary, there was probably other individuals with similar ability, although probably not the Aether Crossroads, or his Stats, based on all the time he spent in Shal’s world.

But still, these people might have just as much potential as Randidly. Hell, they probably had more potential than him. Sure, before the System he had been pretty physically fit, and intelligent, but he wasn't a genius. And he wasn't someone who understood how important working hard was. It took him weeks of near death experiences, and Shal’s brutality in the Dungeon before he had taken the first step to being the workaholic he was currently.

Lucretia was thoughtful as she looked out at the woman through Randidly’s eyes. “I wonder if the amount of Aether required was because of the type of Skill, or because of the rarity…?”

Even general. Not specific.

“Oh, that’s true.” Lucretia said nodding. “If she just had a general idea, then it probably would be so much less efficient. It would need to have enough Aether to sense the subtle images that she was generating….”

Finally, Randidly released a breath as he could feel the last dregs of the strange weariness leave him, in the wake of releasing Aether. It had the added benefit of slowing the death of this land, adding a little bump of Aether, especially to the area around Donnyton, but Randidly didn’t think that the small amount of Aether that he had managed to channel was anywhere close to being able to influence the whole Zone.

It was an interesting question, how much Aether he had within himself, but like a lot of things these days, it would have to wait for another time. There were pressing issues.

Mrs. Hamilton led away the woman, who she passed off to Daniel, who was waiting at the door. Together, the two left, talking excitedly about how she could use that Skill. The remaining people looked to Randidly. Ah, they likely wanted to know what was next. Well, preferably…

He turned to look at Thea. “Are you ready?”

After a brief hesitation, she nodded. “I… I think so. I think… I’ve made my decision.”

“So, are you upgrading your Class then? Or even a Stat…?” Randidly asked, already distracted. He knew that he would prefer that she choose to upgrade her Class, so he could watch how it would change when the Stone of Fate was used, but… Also seeing how Stats could shift would allow him to use that upgraded Stat in his Class-

“A Skill, actually. Combat Proficiency.” Thea said, her voice meek.

Randidly paused. Then he turned to look at her. “...What? Why would you do that?”

Stan frowned at that, annoying Randidly further, but he refused to let himself be distracted. His gaze was fixed upon Thea. Sure, improving a Skill was an interesting process, and Randidly wanted to see how it worked, but they currently only had one of these Stones of Fate. They hadn’t located anymore from the mine yet, so this was the only chance Randidly would have to see a process involving a Class happen.

As he was opening his mouth, Randidly noticed how much Thea was trembling, just standing there silently in front of him. And suddenly, he felt profoundly tired.

“She’s a good example. If we let this pass…” Lucretia began, but Neveah cut her off.

Wants something else. Her choose.

So instead of saying anything, Randidly just gestured for her to continue. At first she seemed hesitant, and then she shot a glance at Mrs. Hamilton, who was smiling at her. Randidly’s lip curled. Of course Mrs. Hamilton was responsible. Well, she enabled it, and probably primed Thea to be able to stand up to Randidly, if she chose to. Would Mrs. Hamilton have known that it would happen…?

No, perhaps not, but she would have given Thea the tools to do so, if she needed them. Which filled Randidly with a hot fury. But just as quickly, it melted away, and that same wariness came back.