Chapter 597 (2/2)

In terms of combat Skills, the big risers were Ashes to Ashes and As the Sun Stills, which Randidly used almost daily for the month. It did have the added benefit of giving Randidly much more experience in handling the strange weightlessness that resulted immediately after using As the Sun Stills. It never truly went away, but Randidly did develop the ability to largely ignore its effects.

All put together, the amount of PP was enough to finish off the Crown of Yggdrasil.

Congratulations! You have finished the Path “Crown of Yggdrasil”! Long have you tarried, letting yourself grow into the crown that you will bear for the rest of your life. To hold a crown is not to select a crown, but to find the crown always meant for you at the summit of your journey. Know that your feet have long led you to this crown, although you might not understand why. Still, tarry not long here. For the road leads ever onward.

Congratulations! You have gained the Skill Crown of Yggdrasil: Silence and Upheaval Lvl 1. Due to the nature of the Skill, it is impossible to determine rarity.

Crown of Yggdrasil: Silence and Upheaval Lvl 1: An active Skill. When activated, your Crown condenses over your head and inflicts a low-level silence on all nearby that dampens the effects of Skills. Effect increases with Skill Level. Also makes it difficult for individuals with low Willpower to speak. In addition, yours is a crown worn in times of strife and revolt. When attacked, results in each point in Perception and Reaction being worth slightly more. It becomes much easier to resist binding, deceit, and persuasion Skills. Effects increase with Skill Level.

Randidly laughed to himself. Due to the nature of the Skill, it is impossible to determine rarity? That was an unfortunate eventuality, because he had been hoping to use it to break the final lock on humanity by raising the rarity past Legendary. Still, there were other options for that…

In terms of Stat rewards, there were none, but the Skill would likely be something that he could use to affect Neveah’s illusions. Silence and Upheaval… well, that likely was the sort of King he was.

Sighing, Randidly looked up at the sky. He was above his workshop in the forest, and set off South towards Lake Apollo. When he arrived, the lake seemed more glass than water, without a single ripple moving across the entire thing. Randidly walked to the lake side and looked down at himself.

Know that your feet have long led you to this crown, although you might not understand why.

“Is this truly where I have been heading?” Randidly wondered aloud. But he knew the answer to that. Perhaps this wasn’t the form that he wanted… but for several months now he wanted the power and influence. “Fine then. Let me see this… crown.”

When he activated the Skill, nothing happened for almost five seconds, and Randidly at first wondered if something had gone wrong. Maybe it was more than rarity that was difficult about it. Adding to this sensation was the fact it had no cost.

But then slowly, thin tendrils of darkness rose up from his head and began to gather and circle around him. Before his very eyes, the crown condensed.

It was not very large, but it was black in color, with some tinges of crimson in the edges of the blades of the crown. And there were blades, slender and vicious, rising up out of the crown. The largest was at the center of Randidly’s forehead, sticking up almost as long as his hand. It was thin and deadly, with three sets of slowly smaller blades sticking off the sides until it reached the sides of Randidly’s head.

The band of crown appeared to be woven of wood, even though it was the same strange material. But it seemed alive as one looked at it, winding through the three strands over and over again, like three snakes seeking eternity with each other.

Suddenly, the crown snapped into place and settling onto Randidly’s head. A small ripple spread outward from his position, spanning the entire lake. There was a shiver in the air, and a strange dimness spread outwards from the crown.

Randidly’s lip quirked up as he considered himself with a crown on in the image on the water. “Something like… ‘Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ huh?”