Chapter 559 (1/2)

Randidly burned the body without any remorse and continued the operation. There were no more strange incidents, and they were able to cover about 70% of the shallow areas of the lake. There was likely more hidden in its depths, but this was a preventative measure only. This wasn’t meant to rid them of the problem, just buy them some time.

Hopefully, the military would get off its ass and mop up the rest, but if it didn’t they could just come back and be more heavy-handed.

Truly though, they had killed so many monsters that even Randidly was shocked. Thinking of an entire ocean full of the things… Randidly shivered.

When he made it back to the farming compound, Nathan was waiting for him.

“Just like you, I couldn’t find the source,” Nathan said with a shrug. “It’s definitely coming from something internal. But he doesn’t have a Class, and it's not his Soulskill. It’s like… he soaked in the Creature’s Aether for a while and now some of it has soaked into him. But I can’t figure out how that would be possible, or why it would be done.”

Randidly grunted. He had suspected as much when he had performed his own examination. There was the unmistakable taste of Aether on his body, but it seemed to serve no purpose. It was unbelievably frustrating. Still, there was little more that he could do. He was something of an Aether expert with his Skills, but they could extract no more information from the boy.

After Nathan left Randidly to sit on the log bench and think, he only had about 10 minutes alone before a new person approached him.

“You’ve never really made sense to me until I saw you around your… friends.” Tatiana said simply, sitting down next to Randidly.

Randidly gave her a sidelong glance. “What do you mean?”

“It seems like you are competent at almost everything you do. Fighting, steel making… even those brief times I’ve seen you cook, it always comes out smelling wonderful. For the longest time, I was just stuck on wondering why Baloo Erickson was working so hard in a small steel town…” Tatiana tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “...but now it makes sense. This isn’t your real life. That is. Speaking and being listened to. Thriving under the System.”

This time when he glanced at her, Randidly’s eyes were much more serious.

She smiled sadly and shook her head. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not questioning everything. It just clicked into place. I could see you for what you really are. I’m not sure what you are trying to do working in a steel town, but I don’t doubt you will accomplish it. And if possible… I want to help?”

Now Randidly was truly surprised. “What?”

“I want to help,” Tatiana repeated, turning and looking at Randidly. Her eyes were earnest as she continued to speak. “You are in charge of a business. Or at least a small squad. I have experience with management, and a lot of girls who are making due based on what we can grow and what I can buy with my saving. It seems… it seems that the details of my own predicament were nowhere near as simple as I thought. I’m stuck here for a while. Since we both have things we want, why not work together?”

Randidly breathed out through his nose. Then he looked at Tatiana. He really meant to consider what she was offering. After all, he was aware of her Skills and the competence of the women who worked under here on the farming compound. Idly, he would balance the benefits they could bring to him against the cost of protecting them. This compound was an eyesore as far as drone coverage was concerned, and there was already that spat with the Unity Church.

Not that he wouldn’t fight the Unity Church anyway, but this was a point of weakness that could be exploited. That was dangerous.

But instead of thinking it all through, Randidly simply looked at Tatiana.

With his powerful Perception, he could see every pore in her skin, every fine little hair on her cheeks. It was clear that although she looked presentable in a casual way, Tatiana hadn’t had time to really sit and relax in the last several days. She was determined and hardworking. Her eyes were bright and clear, looking straight at him.

He also knew that it took a lot of guts to put oneself out there, asking for help. Because although Tatiana framed it as them engaging in an exchange, help was exactly what it was. There were long-term benefits that he might reap from having Tatiana and her group be more closely bound with him, but in the short term, it would just be liabilities.