Chapter 396 (1/2)

Randidly felt… strange. That was the only word that he could think of to describe it. But even that was insufficient to convey how he felt.

There was a peace in his soul that he had never felt before, a fullness. Around him was simply blackness. He couldn’t recall how he arrived at this place, nor would that peace in his chest allow him to care. There was simply acceptance. Here he was, in the blackness.

That was that.

A part of Randidly rebelled against this notion. Why are we here? That part of him raged, furious at the complete acceptance that the other parts felt. But there were many forces against that part of himself that questioned.

Again and again, Randidly railed against the peace in his heart, and again and again, the peacefulness flooded into him like the sea, struggling to drown and deaden those emotions, leaving them waterlogged and drifting. But… as time passed…

The fires in Randidly’s heart only grew hotter.

“Fuck this…” Randidly whispered, opening his eyes, staring intently into the blackness around him. “Why… am… I…. HERE?!!?”

The world around him shook, seemingly nervous at his strength. This time, when the peace returned, rushing into him, Randidly simply devoured it, swallowing it whole. Then he exposed that peace to the burning insistence in his chest, his refusal to back off, his demand to know. And that peace evaporated into nothing.

After that, no more peace flooded towards him, leaving him alone in the blackness. But after overcoming that peace, there was a question floating in the air that Randidly could feel, that his one clue as to why he had arrived in this place.

What are you?

Twisting his lips, Randidly considered this question. What… was he…? A human obviously, but-

Ah, the Class.

Randidly’s eyes glowed a brilliant emerald, and his smile was wide. So he was right, the System would assist him in creating a Class, if the right conditions were met. That sense of peace then… was perhaps the System trying to re-exert its influence? That bore watching, then, for the future. For the moment, it appeared that was broken, and now it was just time to choose…

Over the past few weeks, as the knowledge that the Raid Dungeon could only be entered with a Class forced him to consider getting a Class, Randidly had carefully considered his options. There were perhaps… too many directions that he could go into. But what Randidly wanted was something that was uniquely his, and that would be able to support those people around him.

His Soul Skill seemed like a lead, and also his spear usage, learned from Shal, but Golden Roots of Yggdrasil was the one thing that had captured his attention. It was a Skill he had learned from Burt, a villager of Kith Klark, but it was simply a passive Skill, that had vastly increased his staying power in a fight due to its influence on his regeneration.

Well, it didn’t truly boost his regeneration, but what it did was raise the effect of his Vitality to a ridiculously high degree, allowing him to have the natural strength of body to overcome most injuries and exhaustion. He was simply an engine that pressed forward, under its effects. And there was the very eye catching term Yggdrasil included in it, which was something worth remembering…

But that didn’t strike Randidly as enough, and it wasn’t… quite aptly suited to describe him. He was not a world tree, and he wasn’t just a root system. Randidly was…

He was….

Images of his past flashed by. His fights. His time in the original Dungeon. The sight of Donnyton growing, at least a hundred people now seeking shelter underneath his influence. The sight of Lyra’s dead body, cold and grey.

Tessa’s face as Randidly lashed out with Agony, hurting her. The wreckage of monster and some human bodies after Kim-Lath attacked Donnyton.

Shal’s proud face. The fury and rejection in Drak’s eyes as he accepted Aether from Lucretia in order to have a chance against Randidly. The intense way that Azriel looked at Randidly while they were practicing, as if nothing else in the world existed.

The smug expression on the Engraving Guild Representative’s face as he told Randidly they would be watching him. The dead look in Claptrap’s eyes the last time Randidly saw him. Arrogance scrawled across Drak’s grandfather’s face as he descended, and then the shock as Randidly used his Skill to stall the man, if just for a second.

Pure, unquestioning concern in Simon’s eyes as Randidly awoke, finding himself filled with the shrapnel of a broken Skill.

“This world….” Randidly whispered slowly, his eyes becoming even brighter in the dark. “...this System brought with it so much pain, didn’t it…?”