Chapter 561 (1/2)

Levels were strange, Randidly decided during one of his breaks in the labor of preparing these drones for launch. As he worked, he would get slowly better at something. That was simply the accumulation of experience. Accumulating experience also meant that he would receive Skill Levels.

Individually, these Skill Levels were small things, but when Randidly received two or three in both Spriggit’s Tinkering and Engineering Savvy there was a noticeable difference. The System sped up the process of learning by a great deal. Which was convenient, but disturbing.

Ultimately, Randidly shook his head and put the thought aside. After all, there was much work to be done. But he couldn’t escape the nagging feeling that he was very quickly reaching a point where his advantages were accumulating far beyond what was possible for normal people to equal. After all, without his high Intelligence, this task would be far more difficult.

Because he had higher Stats, he could Level Skills more quickly. Because he had a Soul Skill and a lot of Skills Leveling, he could quickly earn more Stats. There was a hard limit on Skills he would reach eventually, but until then he was accelerating towards something. A flaw in the System.

An event horizon where his growth grew self propagating.

Well, in theory. At the moment, Randidly was nowhere near there. But it was strange that the System should function that way. Perhaps that was what the Calamity was in practice, Randidly reflected as he began adjusting a runic engraving. An entity that had gathered so much power that it ceased to function by the normal rules that bound the rest of them.

Randidly recalled the dream state where he had followed Shal’s father through the battlefield and fought against enemies there. He remembered the final opponent, one who was so physically superior it seemed hopeless to fight against. Although now Randidly knew that the monster at the time was only a Level 70 caliber creature, Randidly knew that there would be further monsters beyond that.

That was what he faced. That was what his goal was. To grow to become strong enough to wound that.

Randidly looked down at the engraving pen and the warm metal he was working with. To grow, he needed to push boundaries. Making these blueprints and then struggling to create working prototypes from them had done a lot to fuel his growth. He had earned 43 Skill Levels in the past week that he had spent locked up slaving away over his babies.

Time and time again he had reached a snag in the design. In retrospect, his original plans were breathtakingly optimistic. Even with Randidly’s runes, there were numerous heat problems. The energy conversion runes were powerful, but couldn’t be in the same spot as other runes. So the layout of each of his original three needed to be altered.

But not by much.

Spriggit’s Tinkering and Engineering Savvy had been the engine for that growth, and as they grew more pronounced slowly Mana Engraving began to tick upwards as his plans grew more sophisticated. Even Clockwork Mastery grew a bit, likely due to the intricate pieces. How long would it take another to reach the requisite Level of Skill to be able to construct similar drones? Perhaps a year?

Perhaps less. The ambient Aether in the air was thickening. Part of it was himself, slowly leaking the excess that flowed through his body. But that was a gradual process. No, this was happening quickly. Aether was pouring with increasing density out of the Danger Zones. Which meant that the monsters within Danger Zones were being enriched.

That made Randidly frown. So many plates to juggle. The growth he had achieved here was great for pushing his PP upwards and moving down different Paths, but it hadn’t ultimately achieved the goal of finishing his Skill. That was stuck at a little above 90%, Randidly could sense. But it was no use rushing.

Still, Randidly had spent a lot of time over the past two months doing activities other than training. He didn’t regret it, but now he felt the pressure building. After all, Randidly had no doubt that the System was willing to push the strength of its Danger Zones up to the point that people couldn’t overcome them. No doubt the monsters would begin coming out in waves, then.

Randidly sighed as his thinking caused another board to overheat and melt. He tossed the metal aside casually. At the level he was hoping the drones would be operated, he could not make the runic boards thick. As such, mistakes were common even as his Mana Engraving Skill reached Level 119. It was by far his highest non-combat Skill. Well, the Yggdrasil Skills were close, but he didn’t count those.

Those were more like a part of himself than a Skill he actually used.

Choices. Broadly, Randidly had the choice to do anything he wanted. He also had enemies. The flood of Raid Bosses, the Creature, the Calamity, Danger Zones, likely the Unity Church. But he could only deal with one at a time, and the solutions to facing these varied threats weren’t clear. Becoming more powerful would help, but he needed more than that. He needed to prepare.