Chapter 630 (2/2)

With solemn eyes, Randidly considered Skarch. She displayed overwhelming power, if not very much imagination, in the times he had seen her fight. Her spear was incredibly well made, and with just its base power it crushed most wights that attempted to contest her blows. Even though she was already so overwhelming, she had never had to activate the engravings on the spear. That was what gave Randidly some pause.

She wouldn’t be a common opponent.

So to start, Randidly moved straight to As the Sun Stills. It was easy to conjure the image of that Skill, and it contained great concentrated power. Plus, although Randidly had blithely claimed to be an Adept, he wasn’t totally so. He could only physically affect the world with images from certain Skills. It was another weakness he hoped the Visualization duels would address.

The strange pressure of the sun shot upwards. Heat roiled out from his image, shaking the air with the force of its expansion. But soon that heat became heavier, and heavier, and heavier. A sun with a huge diameter slowly dimmed, condensing inwards. The heat filled the surrounding air, growing more and more terrible.

Outside of the image, Randidly noticed that Skarch’s initially sly face turned solemn. She narrowed her eyes.

Just as the sun settled into nothing, into that one infinitely heavy dust particle, the image of a spear appeared in the area between them. It was condensed and small, but intimately familiar. Without fanfare, an image of her own spear appeared. The detail was immaculately perfect, and there was very little dispersed energy as it formed.

With rumbling force, Randidly gathered everything he had and smashed towards the spear. For the spear’s part, a smoky body appeared, grasping the spear. There was very little substance and effort dedicated to the spear user’s body, and it seemed to be there only as an illustration of what was happening. It made sense, considering her School affiliation.

The shadowy person took a basic defensive posture. The spear glowed brightly.

As Randidly’s image smashed into Skarch’s image, he felt the other image stutter as it was knocked backward by his force. But then, something extremely strange happened.

As Randidly tried to recover from the rebound of hitting Skarch’s image so he could attack again, his image swirled and rapidly dissipated. He let out a breath, frowning. Why had that…?

“Truly you are strong. It is no wonder that you fight so easily against the Wights,” Skarch said, shaking her head. “But… you have not truly consolidated yourself as an Adept. Your images cannot withstand their own strength; do you see? You broke your own image with that attack.”

Randidly kept his mouth closed as he considered this. Well, he had to admit that his skill in this area was somewhat lacking. That was the point of focusing like this. Finally, he nodded to Skarch. “That… is likely true. Perhaps it is too much to say I am an Adept. But your image…”

“Hahaha! No, Mr. Ghosthound, you are truly an Adept. Such a designation connotes capability, not stamina,” Skarch said with a grin. Then her grin widened even further, as she looked over towards the spot where her spear lay. “As for my image… is this perhaps the first time you have met someone from the Spear School? Our images focus on the spear. From a young age, those in the Spearman School study art, smithing, and sculpting so the spear can be imagined and understood perfectly. It greatly enhances our strength in battle.”

Skarch cracked her fingers. “Your image would defeat mine in a direct contest. But my images can be used a thousand times and in a thousand ways without tiring. Which is more valuable? It is an old discussion. But all I know is that the only times I have truly failed was when I have made a mistake and given up; with this efficient image, that has never happened.”

“Interesting,” Randidly said. It seemed like he had gone down an opposite path, but there was definitely value to pursuing some of the resiliency that Skarch demonstrated. “Would you like to try again?”

Skarch chuckled. “You make food, yes? How about we make a bet: every time you lose, you will make food for the group. Every time I lose… well, I will take off the outer layer of my spear so you may examine its inner workings. You are very interested in this, yes? It is rare to get to examine a Spear School work such as this easily.”

Randidly grinned in acceptance. He had been wondering whether there were further runes hidden in the depth of the spear but hadn’t wanted to force the issue. But since she brought it up…

Randidly lost 13 times in a row.