Chapter 407 (2/2)
Sydney said nothing, but her hands dropped to her sides. How was he so strong…? This… this wasn’t how this reunion was supposed to go at all.
*****
“So, he’s gonna be the representative of East End?” Dauntless’ female secretary asked, looking at him with curious eyes. The Ghosthound just grunted, looking up at the rain clouds overhead.
Drake crossed his arms. He wasn’t any happier about this than the Ghosthound was. But both Coppernicus and Vandal were away on other matters, so Drake was the only person who was near strong enough to keep up with the crew of elites, and also Sydney trusted enough to represent her interests.
“What’s your Class and Level? And any special Skills you have. You’ll also be given access to the information that everyone else provided, so it can be considered a net gain for you.” The woman, who introduced herself as Rose, said. “And don’t bother holding anything back. My Skill will allow me to see what Skills you use, and based on the difficulty we are expecting… we don’t have the luxury of holding anything back.”
Drake considered for a long moment, before nodding. After the Ghosthound had stomped out of the room, his face studiously blank, Drake had gone into Sydney’s study to speak with her. She was also curiously devoid of emotion and calmly informed him that he would be going with the group into the Raid Dungeon. In addition, she had ordered him to cooperate fully with them.
After all, Sydney had said, “We aren’t at war with them, yet.”
In his heart of hearts, Drake locked that yet away and made it a priority of his to examine the strengths and weaknesses of this group. And part of that was baring his own abilities.
“Level 34. My Class is Guard Captain…. But I do have a Soul Skill, called Haunted Armor. It gives me bonuses to Endurance, Strength, and Resistance. Plus, I learned an extra Skill called Bone Exoskeleton which gives me a huge armor boost but takes forever to activate… and cuts down on my mobility a huge amount.”
“Good news, Ptolemy,” Rose said, her eyebrows rising. “39 isn’t the lowest Level anymore. Well, Drake, you’ll have to stay sharp, because you’ll probably be outclassed by most enemies for a while, but that means you will grow more quickly.”
Drake just grunted, then realized he probably made the same noise that the Ghosthound had a minute earlier, and flushed with annoyance. Trying to change the subject, he looked around and asked, “So? Where’s that big bone centipede of yours?”
Randidly’s face darkened. “She… is otherwise occupied.”
****
It was midnight, and the group that would descend into the Dungeon tomorrow were gathered around a fire, introducing themselves, talking about strengths and weaknesses, polishing their weapons, and saying small prayers.
Randidly sat a small amount of distance off, feeling his connection to Neveah. She continued to sleep, the forces of… whatever happened still transforming her. It didn’t appear that she had moved from that ravine where she had locked herself after Randidly had obtained his Class.
In more positive news, Randidly’s Soul Skill had finished its transformation, and seemed altogether, unchanged, except for the increased presence of energy in that world. It made Randidly frown because he could feel that something had shifted at the core of the world, and some of that clockwork, based on the work of the Creature, was shuddering into motion…
But Lucretia was also back, even though she largely was silent, examining every inch of Randidly’s Class, keeping her opinions to herself. She seemed…. profoundly disappointed about something, and honestly, Randidly didn’t want to press her for the details. They were strangely connected but that didn’t mean that he wanted to be an integral part of her life. Hopefully, at some point, Randidly would return to Shal’s world and just… let her out.
Well, perhaps not, she had done a lot of evil things in her time there…
Shaking his head, Randidly turned his attention to his Paths screen.