Chapter 467 (1/2)

Simon held his hand up to his eyes, shading some of the sun's harsh rays. It had been over an hour now since the group had gone into the Raid Dungeon, and Simon was a nervous wreck. Because even with his Class of the Dreamer, there was nothing that he could do to penetrate through the temporal differences to see what was going on within the Raid Dungeon.

In fact, it was only through a supreme act of will that Simon was able to tear his focus away from the Raid Dungeon. But based on what the difference in time was, it was possible that the group would take a day or two of real-world time to finish the Dungeon. Even that was dependent on the performance of the Dungeon divers, which Simon didn't doubt, but they had no way of knowing how difficult it would be, how many challenges would be arrayed before them...

Sighing, Simon left his room and walked outside, vaguely intending to tend to the garden. In the end, he simply took the watering pale and sat next to the garden, his arms wrapping around his legs, pressing his eyes tightly shut. While he was so deprived of his sight, he did his best to ignore the humming presence of his Astral power and focused instead on the sounds around him. A squirrel climbing up a tree, the drone of bugs, his own breath.

As he did so, the knot of tension in his neck slowly eased, flowing out of him into the ground beneath him. There was something... profoundly healing about the world, Simon reflected to himself. It was almost as if, compared to the great weights the planet bore, their small woes and stresses were so minuscule they could be absorbed without noticeable difference. Very quickly, Simon's breathing had eased to the point he could lean back, and feel the warmth of the sun on his skin.

”It just... it sucks being left behind,” Simon whispered to the air. He was currently living with his mom in Star Crossing, and due to her high standing, and also Simon's, their house was about a half mile out of town, upon a high hill that gave a good vantage point for the surrounding territory.

In a post System world, a half mile wasn't so far that sprinting help couldn't arrive in time to help handle emergencies, but it was far enough that the bustle of the city fell away. Plus, with rumblings out of Franksburg of development of an electrical grid, and a fuel substitute, their tiny suburb on the hill might soon be seen as all too close to the noises of the city.

Even with the rising threat of doom, should the Raid Dungeon team fail, by and large, no one below the upper levels of the VIllage's Administrations noticed. Or at least, the people gossipped and talked about it, but never really doubted that their heroes would succeed.

Simon pressed his eyes shut. It had been hard, these past few weeks, to listen to so many people praising Thea for her bravery and power. They talked about how she was from a relatively common Class, as far as the Raid Dungeon party went, and still was able to stand among them as equals, due to hard work and determination. Every time someone talked about her, Simon felt a hand grip his heart to the point he simply ached, all other emotions driven away. To think that now, she was out of his ability to assist or understand...

Tensing his entire body, Simon hissed. ”I'm so weak! All I could do was watch as they left, and now... not even...”

He trailed off, unsure of what to say. As his thoughts always did when faced with the question of how to become stronger, Simon's thoughts turned towards... David. The Ghosthound. The man who, more than anyone else, had gotten to where he was due to hard work and determination.

Oh, Simon didn't deny that Thea's recent emergence was due to those same traits, but he was likely the only person who realized that Thea's emergence coincided with meeting the Ghosthound, and watching how he mercilessly drove himself forward, always pushing harder, farther, faster. He was a man that lived under a dreadful weight. At this point, Simon wondered if the Ghosthound could stop pushing... or would the sheer momentum of him continue to drive him farther and farther from the rest of humanity.

Simon had trained his Skills, but he wasn't as exacting as he knew he would have to be to move among the highest level of Classers. When he grew tired, Simon didn't want to push even further, he simply wanted to stop and rest. Of course, he wasn't going to baby himself up to that point, but everyone he had talked to had told him that any work that he would put in after that moment he sincerely believed he couldn't go on any longer was just as valuable, if not more so, than all the work that came before that. Therefore, those that could push past the weariness were getting in double the work as those who couldn't.

These principles were derived from pre-System exercise science, of course, but all the experts agreed that post-System, Skills improved for a lot of the same reasons that muscles did previously. It simply left Simon exhausted, feeling like a vast gulf was opening between himself and others, even with the rarity of his Class. That space between himself and the Ghosthound was a given, but now it was surely between himself and Thea-

Crack.

Simon spun around, jumping up to his feet in response to the sudden sound. The broken body of the bird that had slammed into the glass window seemed glued to the impact zone, the thin crack holding it in a vengeful grip. But then the moment passed, and the body tumbled down and settled into the bushes next to the house.

Letting out a breath, Simon muttered, ”Fuck this,” and closed his eyes. He reached for his Astral power, and his awareness spread rapidly outward.

He could feel how, in the living room, his Soulbound companion got to his feet, shaking his oxen head in displeasure. It was very clear that his friend did not look kindly on him giving in to temptation so quickly, but Simon didn’t care about that now, he simply let himself get lost in the teleportation, allowing his perceptions to shoot off across the horizon, scanning quickly.