Chapter 414 (1/2)

Randidly scratched his chin. Although it was a nice useful boost, and he could wear it, Randidly didn’t think it would work as an equipment for him. For one, if he had it on, would he wear it under his Bone Cloak…? But then how would the wings extend…?

Plus, the fact that both of the Skills were at Lvl 46, and had no way of growing… Randidly wrinkled his nose. Sure, some of the Skills he had yet to train up were at that level, and a few of his spells, but that was due to lack of time. His true bread and butter spells were far above that and had the ability to grow. An item without the ability to grow would boost a person’s strength at the moment, but it would slowly become a weight that held them back.

For the first time in a long time, Randidly remembered that group of people he had encountered with Shal, who had generously given him the Mana Engraving Encyclopedias, asking only for a promise of aid in return. Truly, they were in desperate straits to accept such a feeble thing, but Randidly had benefitted immensely from their gift, and now Donnyton could share that same benefits.

Plus, there was a promise of them being able to teach the runes to Randidly that got them smothered by their competition: the Skill Rune that could grow with the user.

Randidly shivered. Having that ability would put Donnyton at the top of their Zone for sure… but it was a distant thing, one far from the issues they faced presently. Randidly would need to return to Shal’s world to receive that knowledge, and to do so, he would need strength enough to suppress his enemies in the Engraving Guilds.

And right now, everyone in the Raid Dungeon was looking at him, waiting for his decision in regards to the equipment. Well… wasn’t the easiest answer the best, in this case....?

“If no one denies that Thea and Chrysanthemum were the biggest contributors to killing that… Reaping Mantis,” Randidly said slowly. “Let her decide whether she wants the equipment or not. And then if she doesn’t, who it should go to…”

Ace frowned immediately, and Randidly rolled his eyes. Sure, it would be useful for all of the party, but he could sense immediately that Ace fixated on the item. It would give him what he was sorely lacking, a way to close the distance between himself and his enemies. It was intimidating how quickly Randidly could see Ace improving in terms of his hand to hand combat ability, but as long as distance remained a barrier for him…

Alana nodded and began hacking apart one of the other Reaping Manti, extracting some of its carapace to take back to Donnyton. Although it was brittle, it was still rigid and powerful and would serve well as cookware, if nothing else. The best bodies for this were the ones Randidly himself killed, squeezing their soft parts to mush with vines. Although they had died in a bloody manner, he had just ignored the hard parts of their bodies, going for the vital points.

There were some huge perks to having such a high level of Control. One of them was that weaknesses were comically easy to target if the enemy wasn’t skilled at avoiding defending itself. And the Reaping Manti hadn’t been very quick on the uptake when Randidly’s roots came boiling out of the ground

Lucifer seemed relatively uninterested, although Randidly privately thought that he was the one who could use it the most, with his huge, wild weapon. But instead, he was chopping off the unbroken scythe from Thea’s kill, seemingly very pleased with the size and weight of it. After a few test swings, he nodded, satisfied, and began to sharpen it further.

Unlike his jagged cleaver, this would only have a blade on one side, but damage such a huge razor could inflict was slightly intimidating.

Clarissa and Ptolemy would use it, obviously, but it was mostly academic. They were, however, whispering to each other. Most others wouldn’t have heard, but they were wondering whether having the item and using it a bunch would unlock Air Manipulation as a Skill. Which was interesting, but it did reassure Randidly that they weren’t that concerned with obtaining it.

Thea seemed somewhat frazzled. She at first took several shy steps towards Lucifer but seeing him ignore her rather soundly caused her to falter. Then she shot Randidly a glance and walked over towards Drake, of all people.

“You… you’re the lowest Level, right? Maybe you-”

“Thank you for your kindness, but I’ll be alright,” Drake said, bowing slightly. “You are an ideal candidate for the item anyway. The mobility combined with Chrysanthemum’s strength… learning to combine both will increase your strength immensely.”