Chapter 703 (2/2)

Warning, insufficient time has passed since the last Growth of Yggdrasil Path was experienced. 298 days remaining until this Path is usable.

There was a cooldown?!?

“Fuck me,” Randidly muttered. Why was the Path available if he couldn’t use it…? Instead, Randidly morosely turned his attention back to his other Path options or at least the ones that he thought would be the most helpful.

Advanced Mana Engraving 0/400, Aether Convergence II ???, Perfect Soul Bond 0/1000, the Bell of Doom Tolls 0/600, Mana Ghoul 0/200, Fiery Sharpshooter 0/350, The Ashes of Ulaat, Patron of Ash 0/1000

None of Randidly’s options were particularly distinguishing. Fiery Sharpshooter was the first to be rejected, due to its fiery nature. Ashes of Ulaat Randidly also decided against, if only because his memory of the previous Ashes Path had been backloaded with value. For all that Randidly was confident that he would win against Helen, there was no reason to not take advantage of the small bonuses he could have.

Aether Convergence was another long-term usefulness Skill. The same with Perfect Soul Bond. Advanced Mana Engraving was tempting for Randidly, especially with access to Skarch’s spear, but Randidly didn’t forget about the looming threat of the Engraving Styles.

Which left the Bell of Doom Tolls and Mana Ghoul. The source of the first was somewhat of a mystery to Randidly, but he knew the second was from the constant Mana deprivation he had subjected himself to during his month fighting on the front lines. After a brief hesitation, Randidly picked Mana Ghoul, mostly because of the shorter PP requirement.

He dumped his remaining PP into it and received 10 Mana for every 5 PP. That was a nice surprise. With a small smile, Randidly touched the brown crystal on the second altar.

Instantly Randidly was on a hill, standing behind a tanned man with a broad back. His hands were spread out across his spear, near the ends. He breathed in and lifted the spear. Then he breathed out and lowered the spear.

And when the spear fell, the world seemed to fall with it.

At first, Randidly thought it was heaviness that made it so, like his own Skill and the summoning of the Judgement earlier. That there was such an image of weight that the world trembled at the hint of this easy movement.

But it was not weight that set the small pebbles in the area to rattling. The trembling ground of the hill did not feel the weight touching it, it was something else that seemed to fill the air with helplessness. The spear was slowly lowered and everything began to quake. The ground beneath the man’s feet cracked.

Blinking, Randidly realized this was somewhat familiar. Then he got it.

This wasn’t weight rattling the world to pieces. This was momentum.

This was an avalanche.

As Randidly leaned backward, he unleashed a breath. Flexing his fingers, he wondered how these people grew to the point where they had such powerful images about things. Just by thinking these things they made it so. Where did that strength come from? Was it stats in Willpower? Should Randidly focus there?

Or rather, was it related to understanding. Would studying the elements he wanted to imagine make them stronger? Would a scientific understanding be helpful? Or was this like some of the old novels Randidly had read, where he required an epiphany that would suddenly bring a strange intimacy with these elements?

Ruefully, Randidly scratched at his head. His short black hair was beginning to get longer again. He would need to cut it soon.

Images were just that, images. Some other things were helpful but… it wasn’t about the truth or understanding, it seemed to Randidly. It was about capturing something and projecting it. Or, put another way…

It was about telling a story to the world that was so convincing that it believed you.

Randidly reached and put his hand on the crystal once more.