Chapter 388 (1/2)

Randidly didn’t receive further news until 8 AM the next morning. Stan had continued to sleep, long after the Sleeping Powder wore off, simply lying there. After briefly examining him, Randidly realized that something was changing about the Soul Skill, even while Stan’s consciousness was dormant. The creature in the cage was producing increasing amounts of mist, that billowed outward.

Soon, the entirety of the cage would be masked by the mist’s presence. Which was one type of solution, but it was one that Randidly found incredibly frustrating. It was hard for him to understand why something that was clearly so true would fill Stan with such fear. What sort of monster was he hiding, burying deep in his chest…?

The other part that was frustrating was that Randidly knew that what the Soul Skill was unconsciously doing was covering up a portion of Stan’s potential, although which portion he wasn’t clear on. The mist obscuring the cage would call for a weaker effect, although it would probably slowly shift towards Stan growing to understand that portion of himself, as his Soul Skill grew.

Or at least, that’s what Randidly had expected. It was so hard to fully comprehend what they were learning everyday, and tough to know which portions were speculation, and which portions were proven evidence. Lucretia and Neveah had both been very quiet in the wake of Stan’s bad reaction, although both seemed to tacitly agree with his assessment.

But the fact that they had to wait so long to have that agreement…

With the rest of the night and morning, however, Randidly had not been idle. He had been furiously training his other Skills, specifically, his spells, refining them with images and new utilizations, in order to get more PP, and improve further. After all, he still had a bit of leftover PP from his previous improvements, and now, with a few extra Skill Levels in a few spells, Randidly thought that it was time he considered the question of what Path to use next more directly. Honestly, anything was better than dwelling on what happened to Stan.

He had gained 3 Skill Levels in Spearing Roots, 2 in Root Control, 5 in Incinerating Bolt and Circle of Flame, 4 in Hammer of the Dawn, 7 in Burning Footsteps, 2 in Ashes to Ashes, and the most impressive growth of his spells was in Touch from Beyond, which grew by 8 Levels.

The performance of Touch from Beyond was also swiftly becoming the most impressive, as the extra destructive power that it added was unmatched in speed and ease of cast. The only problem was the slight amount of recoil damage that his body sustained after use, but with his high level of regeneration techniques, he could overcome that given a short amount of time.

In addition, Randidly had passively gained a lot in his work with Aether. Aether Manipulation had increased by 7 Skill Levels, while Aether Detection, the Indomitable Spirit of Yggdrasil, and the Cruel Indignation of Yggdrasil had increased by 4. The big winner over here was Living Aether, which had jumped up 12 Skill Levels, mostly due to the moment when Randidly released a small amount of the Aether that was sealed up in his body, letting it flood the portion of their Zone surrounding Donnyton.

Even now, the Aether inside of himself seemed much more alive and jubilant, seemingly happy to flow within him, off through his connections to distant individuals, strengthening them. It showed a certain amount of… sentience, that was disturbing. It was also confusing because one of Randidly’s earliest theories about where Neveah came from was that she was basically the consciousness of the Aether Crossroads. But that became increasingly unlikely as the Aether itself flowing from it came alive. It couldn’t both have a central sentience, and be that every shred of energy was alive… could it?

When combined with the PP that he had saved up previously, it was over 100. Which meant whatever path that he chose would take a significant hit from using this. Intrigued, in spite of himself, Randidly considered the Paths open to him.

Heretic XV 0/???, Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 0/50, Path of Control 0/200, Experimenter I 0/50, The Phantom’s Embrace 0/150, Fighting Proficiency III 0/???, System Transgressor 0/1, Steps of the Godling II Path 0/200, Basic Soul Bond 0/75, the First Legend 0/???, the Road to Mastery 0/500, Seed of Yggdrasil 0/150

Randidly was initially confused about the fact that Heretic had reached 15, yet no Judgement had descended. It was good, in a way, because right now was an extremely inopportune time for a Judgement to descend, but it also meant that something was building. If it followed the pattern set up by the System’s treatment of the Journeyman/Adept Paths, this later Judgement would be… perhaps even more powerful.

Everytime a Judgement descended, Randidly believed that his power had increased by such leaps and bounds that there was no way that the opponent could still be his match, and everytime, more and more Skills were revealed by that strange Yeti thing, suppressing Randidly’s ability to resist. If not for the fact that it seemed like its abilities were designed for the actual Heretics, and were relatively useless on Randidly, he would have been crushed in their previous engagement.

Honestly, Randidly hadn’t even overcome that Judgement. He had simply locked it into the prison and run away. And to Randidly’s surprise, it hadn’t come bursting out of the prison, following him. If it was being strengthened even now…

A problem that he would have to face when he returned to Shal’s world. If he returned to Shal’s world. Randidly sighed. One problem at a time. Besides, that wasn’t really a Path option that he was considering anyways.