Chapter 386 (2/2)

Important. Class is body. Base important. Thick and heavy. Neveah added.

“So..” Randidly said, speaking through what he was hearing. Creating a Class also has the added benefit… of adding order to their Aether…? Then I-”

“As far as we can tell, you have been incredibly inefficient in the way you utilize your Aether,” Lucretia said. “You are currently using a huge sea to provide water for sprawling, haphazard farm. And that is even after the reward for the Adept Path cleaned up a lot of what you were. Imagine if you had a Class, that boost would have really sharpened your power, creating an entirely new, on theme brand of Skills. As it is… you can consider it lucky that the effect chained so many times, organizing your soul space. If that hadn’t happened, it would have been that much more difficult to create a Class, because the trunk of it would need to support so many different things.

“It makes me wonder about the Classes people obtain from Village Spirits,” Lucretia continued. “Because with this knowledge… the Classes that are provided must be Classes that can support the different sections of yourself that you have already created. Which means that they cannot offer a truly random Class, but they can offer a Class with a trunk that would fit with the shape, if not the theme. Which, on its own, is an incredibly suspicious option. Could there be damage? Could-”

Rambling.

Lucretia sighed, shaking her head sorrowfully. “You… do you truly not appreciate that we are on the cutting edge of the System and Aether? The things we have learned here-”

Not yet solved.

“Bah.” Lucretia waved a hand airly. “It’s only a matter of time! We have the base materials, we can shape them, we have the tools, we have a rudimentary plan… all that’s left is the execution.”

As the two female… entities inside of him continued to bicker, Randidly walked over to Stan, bringing all of the focus in the room to him. Donny shifted his stance, and Ptolemy came to his feet.

“Alright,” Randidly began. “I think I’ve prepared as much as I can. I intend to try to create… a Soul Skill in you. But for that, I need some guidance. The stronger and more distinctive, the better. The less this is shaped, the less benefits you will see. And once it’s created, it will grow with you, shaping you, while you shape it. What would you like? Or more rather… how would you picture your soul?”

“A mirror…” Stan muttered, his eyelids slowly descending, to shutter off his gaze. Randidly immediately perked up. This wasn’t quite enough on its own, but it was a bold start.

“More. What are you?”

For a full minute, Stan was quiet, just holding his eyes shut. Although Randidly began to grow slightly nervous, he felt that this was a man who would not waste time. And in a way, he was right; when Stan’s eyes snapped open, he spoke in a very direct, specific manner, although whether it would be useful to Randidly…

“...Just general. I’m almost non descript. But I can reflect what is around me. More than that… I can take it and broadcast it as my own… Not just vision, but also sound and taste. I can… change it, make it bigger or smaller. I’m a catalyst, almost useless when left alone…”

For a few seconds, Randidly considered whether he should say something to this man, maybe encouraging him in someway. Because some of the things he was saying… well, perhaps it wasn’t that he had low self-confidence, but….

Still, a person who was struggling inwardly didn’t have the intensity of gaze that Stan had. Or perhaps more likely, although people with this gaze might be having a harder time, it was worth it to them. This was the gaze of an individual who was willing to give up almost anything in order to accomplish their goals. But behind these eyes, and behind the rather nondescript description, what was the goal that he so desperately was aiming for…?

Randidly had an inkling that it had to do with Raina, based on the man’s puppy-dog like eyes when she was around, but he didn’t think it was his business to dig into, if it was only at this level. Raina could take care of herself. Instead…

Nodding, Randidly closed his eyes, reaching for the Aether. Immediately, it surged around him, seemingly happy that it would be used, greedy to experience more. This was a new sensation, although it had always been willing, and Randidly wondered if it was due to the earlier large release of Aether. Either way…

Aether could not create substance, not really. Well, perhaps that’s not true, but Randidly wasn’t at that level. But what it could do is contain a powerful flavor of something. So all that remained was to create that flavorful vision or object and then… insert it into Stan’s soul space. Which was perhaps the most dangerous of the steps, but seemed the easiest.

Better just to start then. Randidly closed his eyes and began to picture.