Chapter 402 (1/2)

After cracking his neck, Randidly stood. The area around him had been reduced to a glass smooth crater. He scratched his ear. Apparently, some of his Aether had escaped in a major way due to his lack of control during the process because a casual kick from Randidly wasn’t enough to even scuff the empowered ground beneath him. It seemed that so much concentrated Aether had the benefit of strengthening even something as basic as the ground.

If he had put this in a more useful position…

But Randidly shook his head, banishing the thought. Better to stay focused for now. Even though he wanted to explore a bit, and try out his new Skills, better to head back to Donnyton, and then gather everyone up to head North, towards the Raid Dungeon. There was one thing that Randidly wanted to do before he went in there if he could help it.

In case he failed, he had to check….

Again, Randidly shook his head. That was for later.

His Soul Skill seemed to be still in its strange transition period, so Randidly instead reached out for Neveah. She didn’t respond, but he could sense her nearby, her body waiting while he performed the ceremony to obtain a Class. Although Randidly suspected that he could move very quickly, especially now, and it wouldn’t be difficult at all to obtain a few Levels, he figured it wasn’t worth the effort.

Those first few Levels would be easy to get either way. So Randidly just walked over towards Nevaeh, who appeared to have dug a trench out for herself a fair bit away from him.

“Neveah? Are you-” Randidly reached the edge of the trench and looked down. Then he began to frown.

A small bird formed out of the air, condensing on his shoulder. It chirped at him.

Randidly shook his head. “No… I don’t think it’s bad, but… it certainly throws a wrench in things…”

*****

Lucifer sat as still as he could, but his traitorous toes gave away his excitement by tapping excitedly. It was dawn, and he had arrived in Donnyton. After he had been given a delicious meal, he was now brought to the staging area, where he was given an interspatial pouch, filled with 20 of the highest tiered potions he’d ever seen, although he wasn’t going to reveal that now.

Standing with his arms crossed, he surveyed the other people who had already arrived. Alana was there, of course, looking as surly and serious as ever, two spears strapped to her back, and a shield to her arm. Standing nervously next to her was a young girl, absolutely strapped with armor, and next to her there was a tall grizzly bear, rubbing its belly.

There was also Clarissa and Ptolemy, who Lucifer recognized, who he assumed would be the mages for their expedition. Although Franksburg’s militia was improving by leaps and bounds, that was one area that they still had to rely on Donnyton for, which rankled somewhat. The mages that came out of this small town were absolutely inspired-

“Like what you see?”

Lucifer barely controlled his urge to jump, and spared a sidelong glance to a very pretty woman, with long, dark hair tied behind her head in a ponytail. She gave him a saccharine sweet smile and waggled a finger at him.

Annie, the White Arrow, they called her. “Just standing here? Why not introduce yourself. We are going to be teammates, aren’t we? Let’s get friendly.”

She linked her arm in his and started walking. What was shocking was that she had enough Strength to forcibly drag him across the area towards the final duo that was currently waiting, an athletic man with short, golden hair, and a woman who looked like she was constantly taking notes. The two looked up as Lucifer was dragged over by Annie, and the man smiled.

“You,” The man said, pointing to Lucifer, “have the making of a truly great villain. Never stop chasing that dream, kid.”

“That’s not how you greet people,” the note-taker said, then glanced at Lucifer, scanning him up and down. Lucifer had gotten used to being looked at, both before and after the System’s arrival, due to his height and long, bright orange hair. Now, that lanky frame of his was covered in a layer of muscle, which drew even more eyes to him. Combined with the large cleaver he often carried across his back…

But the way this woman looked at him was disturbingly clinical, as though she could see right through him. It made the sleepy beast in Lucifer’s heart, suppressed by shyness, wake a little, one eyelid trembling. But then the woman extended her hand, and the moment was past.