Chapter 634 (1/2)

“What…?”

After listening to Azriel’s short explanation, Randidly wasn’t sure what to say. The two were sitting off to the side with the rest of the group after Randidly regained enough Mana to form some of the wood from the broken boats into a seaworthy vessel. It took some time to catch back up, but that was mainly due to neither of them possessing any sailing Skills.

Sergeant Platton and his squad were resting while the four individuals competing in the competition were standing guard. Apparently, they had been fighting behind enemy lines for almost a month and were completely exhausted mentally and physically. They needed the break. As Silo was sneaking off to absorb some more energy and Skarch was largely indifferent to Randidly and Azriel when they weren’t playing the image game, it gave the two of them some privacy.

For which Randidly was glad that they had some space to speak.

“Yes, it was this prophecy that made the Central Domain’s response to Aemont and Shal so confusing,” Azriel said shortly. “It was foretold that the one who would defeat the great enemy, by his works, would be capable of slaying Wight royalty… a Propagator. It is a great monster amongst them that is responsible for their impossibly fast growth. The only individual to do this is Aemont.”

“That was his great quest,” Randidly said slowly. Several pieces fell into place in Randidly’s head. “The request of his father-in-law to marry the woman that he loved… he needed to slay a Propagator.”

“An impossible task, yes,” Azriel said with a nod. “Not only due to their personal strength, but they are the royalty of the Wights. In a game of chess, they are the kings to the Witch King’s queen. They are rarely seen near the front lines, and penetrating into the deepest parts of the Wight’s world is nearly impossible. The Wight’s planet… it is a dying thing.”

“And Shal… is considered to be… one of the works of Aemont, the Propagator slayer?” Randidly asked dubiously.

Shrugging, Azriel seemed relatively non-committal. “The prophecy is well documented and very specific. It was thought to be Aemont for the longest time… but… when he died, Shal was all that remained. For this reason, representatives from other Schools tracked him down and whisked him away… to where I know not. But he is facing larger enemies than we. There was once a lot of debate about who ‘the great enemy’ was, but after the Wights struck...”

Randidly considered this with a frown. He vaguely remembered that there was a prophecy circling around about Shal. But it was somewhat hard for Randidly to believe that Shal was supposed to strike against the Wights in a powerful way. Shal was half-Wight himself, although there were probably only a few people other than himself that knew this fact. How would a strike even happen?

More likely was that the great enemy was the Calamity or the System. That perked up Randidly’s ears because it was true that Shal was Aemont’s son, but Aemont also had a profound effect on Randidly himself. Was it possible that the prophecy of this world actually referred to Randidly?

Well, that might be a bit of a narcissistic thought, Randidly thought with a wry smile. It was enough to know that people here put emphasis on it. Undoubtedly, there were powers that were aware that Randidly existed, and was also a member of the Spear Phantom Style. If they wanted to contact him, they would have.

“Thanks,” Randidly said shortly. Azriel flashed him a smile, but it was thorny. She turned and walked away in a huff, causing Randidly to chuckle. Azriel didn’t appreciate losing to him in their race. His Phantom Half-Step was simply too useful for moving between the boats, giving him a huge advantage. No matter the distance, Phantom Half-Step covered half of it. The cost was relatively high for a movement Skill, but as his Statistics improved, such a thing was very affordable.

“Huhu, if you have the energy of good cheer, you have energy to cook,” Skarch said, looking up from her spear. She smiled sweetly at Randidly. “Unless you are in the mood for image training.”

Glumly, Randidly went about preparing food for the group without a word. It increased his Cooking Level anyway, which wasn’t a small thing. It just wasn’t exciting. But it did give him a chance to consider his new Skills Fruit of the Planting of Enmity and Absolute Timing. Very quickly, he had created a pot of stew and served Skarch a bowl so he could be alone with his thoughts.

Absolute Timing was a passive that gave Randidly an almost scary impression of timing. Over the course of slaughtering those Wights he had gained 8 Levels in it, and it already gave a fuzzy sense of the timing of the attacks of the Wights. All it required was a little understanding of moves and Randidly could accurately predict how they would behave from that point on. Honestly, it seemed like a version of exactly the Skill that made Azriel so dominant, Crystal Memory.

On the other hand…

Randidly glanced around with a frown. They were resting currently, so he likely would have the opportunity to try it out right now. Four hours in a row was a long time, but there likely wouldn’t be many other chances in the near future. The contest was important, and hearing of the strange prophecy regarding Shal put Randidly back on the path of finding information while here. That prophecy might truly be regarding the Calamity. If so, then Randidly could learn a lot regarding what it entailed.