Chapter 400 (1/2)

Randidly didn’t really understand what was happening, but he could feel its effects. One by one, certain images that he held within his heart were emphasized, growing in strength and power, beginning to dominate portions of his grove of the Forest of Enmity.

Idly, he mentally tapped his chin considering these influences. His mind was foggy, and his vision was slightly blurry, but there was a sharp, incisive intuition that warned him of these strange influences in his mind. Almost bleary, he considered them with suspicion. The notifications he received didn’t exactly ease his worries, but it certainly gave him focus.

The Class “Planting of the Forest of Enmity” is being created! Calculating parameters…

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

‘Foreign influence…’ Randidly narrowed his eyes, his animal instincts immediately diagnosing this threat, examining what was happening. He could feel the changes, dimly. Already, the Class was connecting itself with his soul space, even while his consciousness remained sucked into the anchor, allowing the entirety of the process to flow through him.

But as Randidly monitored the changes as closely as he could through his senses, he gradually came to accept what was happening. There was a resolve, in this addition to a deep sense of responsibility towards his fellow humans. It flowed slowly into him. Or rather… he could slowly feel that part of himself coming into focus. If it was a color inside of his personality, it did not grow, as he would have expected, or move to a more prominent part of himself, but simply increased the vibrancy of its shade, moving from red to crimson, or from grey to an impending thunderstorm.

Strangely, Randidly didn’t mind it. Rather than adjust his personality, it was… intensifying him. Making him more than a person. It was a gradual thing, as several thin lines of himself, strands of emotions, became stronger. Not in the way that it would cause them to occur more often, but just that when they did occur, those emotions would be stronger, more relentless, their images vivid and bright.

Or it was like adding a higher quality engine to a car. Even now, Randidly could feel himself working… harder, faster, more tenaciously, just given an extra inch of strength due to motivation.

Closing his eyes, Randidly reached for the image of his Class. And after some soft groping in the dark, he found it. Immediately, the world exploded, and he gasped, sucking in air. Immediately, he was surprised by the fact that it actually worked, and his lungs expanded.

Eyes full of wonder, he looked down at his hand, his arm, a true body, standing here, somewhere deep, deep within his soul space. Then he looked around, taking in the small grassy hill, and the 5 young saplings that stood at the crest of the hill. At the center was one that was about double the size of the rest, a young tree about 3 meters tall, its trunk still skinny and slender.

Its branches twisted upwards to points, sharp spears aimed at the heavens. The bark of these trees was cracked and rugged, black at the edges and a dull grey at its base. Thin veins of emerald flowed through the silver, revealing the staggering vitality that all of these plantings carried within them.

Randidly looked and saw a thin blue shield condense in his Class, the personification of the addition, he supposed. It fell to one of the peripheral trees, leaning lightly against it. Immediately, it began to emanate a blue light that flowed into the nearest tree, causing it to slowly, but visibly glow. Soon, it had reached a midpoint of size between its previous size and the size of the central tree, and stopped. But now, from its branches, small azure flowers bloomed, casting a soft light over the surroundings.

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

Looking up at the sky, Randidly frowned. So, it seemed that there were plenty of people willing to take the chance to impart parts of themselves. This was not an asked for benefit, and it was not like the debt that he owed Shal; he would not go to the ends of the earth to help these people. It was a free benefit that he obtained.

Not that he could really discern who had given him these things. But his heart swiftly hardened, as he considered who might be moving to assist him. The first appeared to be related to protecting humanity, but these others…

The first… it was a focus on his Soul Skill. A growth in his protectiveness, his inventiveness, in his value towards being their… Progenitor. And it also had other strange effects, drawing it more closely to him, moving it towards a change of some sort, that it would make it more powerful. That must be Lucretia, but how-

A small pocket watch, split into four quadrants of white, red, golden, and blue-grey, appeared, and was swiftly absorbed by one of the plantings. That tree began to grow too, strange cogs and flywheels poking out of its bark, its color shifting to more varied and multifarious.