Chapter 848 (1/2)

Very quickly, Randidly shook his head to dispel the negative thoughts; he could dwell later. Right now, it was time to figure out what was happening on Earth. The biggest lead that Randidly had was that Alana was extremely concerned when they connected a few days ago, so he spread his Aether Detection and followed the river of Aether flowing between them to locate her.

At the same time, Randidly reached inside of himself and contacted Helen. He closed his eyes and expended a bit of his will, and the System blueprint of his arm spread out to cover a small amount of the surrounding area. His Domain Crossroads of the Alpha Cosmos hummed into existence.

Helen appeared next to Randidly, then looked around at the surrounding mountaintop with a curious gaze. “Well, this is certainly pretty. This is your world?”

“Yea, it is,” Randidly said with a small smile. Then his expression turned serious as he examined Helen carefully. “How do you feel?”

Helen seemed to consider this as she walked back and forth across the mountain top, touching a few rocks and a pine tree. She picked up the stone the size of her fist and crushed it to powder. “Tch, everything is so fragile here… I feel… strange. Fine, but…”

Frowning, Helen seemed to cast around for the words to explain what she was feeling. “It’s almost like… being cold. I feel… colder, the longer I’m out here. Farther away from you…” She walked a few meters away. “...the worse the cold gets. It’s not bad right now, it’s not really ever that bad, and probably won’t be for a while. But it’s not a comfortable sensation.”

While she was speaking, Randidly watched the small interactions of his and the world’s Aether around her. It was very clear that there wasn’t any direct reaction to Helen being here from the world. The Aether around her behaving normally; System Aether and Randidly’s donated Aether mixed freely in and around her.

But when he examined her closely, there was a density to the System Aether inside of her chest that was… different from the Aether of Earth. This made Randidly do a double take because it was easily missed if you couldn’t compare the two side by side.

Hissing in annoyance for missing this previously, Randidly leaned closer and examined the particles. Density was the wrong word; it was that the earlier Aether was in a tighter arrangement. Like molecules, Aether floated freely as large particles in certain rigid formations. In those formations, meaning was stored.

The ‘molecules’ of Earth Aether were smaller. And as Randidly watched, they fit into tiny flaws of the System Aether of Tellus and simply… broke apart that Aether.

At this point, Helen was mostly relying on Randidly’s Aether anyway. But it seemed that Earth was accelerating that process. It likely would have some damaging side effects… It was hard to say whether it was worth it to allow the process to continue-

Right at that moment, Randidly found Alana. She was fighting. Because of course she was. The Ogre army was moving.

Randidly shook his head. Then he regarded Helen. “There are some… negative reactions of being exposed to the Aether here. You might… lose some of your strength if you stay here for an extended time. It should be a one-time thing, and afterward, you should regain it. But I want you to understand the risks.”

Helen spat on the ground. “I’m just a little fucking chilly. Don’t coddle me. This place… it looks peaceful. Is it always like this?”

Sighing, Randidly shook his head. If she wanted to, he would let her stay. But he would keep an eye on her. “If only. Come on- I’ll take you to something more familiar to you.”

*****

Obyrn Myys had been born after the Great Darkness descended over his world. When energy dried up, all across the planet the old edifices of civility and honor that the ogres had lived by for generations fell to the wayside.

Which was why Obyrn was raised in the Arena.

The Arena was one of the few ways of gathering energy left to people, aside from having the dumb luck to stumble across an unexplored energy pocket hidden within the cave systems of the world. Without energy, you grew weak. With energy, you could Level and improve yourself.

So the fact that the Arena involved killing another and taking their energy didn’t bother people for very long. It was just the reality of the world. There was no other way to survive.

Obyrn was good in the Arena. Very good. At 36, so many victories had piled up that he was named Ironfist of the West, the youngest to be appointed to that position in written history by almost twenty years.

It was a soft life he fought his way into, but one that allowed his wife and children to prosper without having to rely on murder. He had his very own energy spring, which was rather weak but at least constant, and a part of the countryside that belonged to him. It was rocky and barren, but it was his.

But honestly, all of his world was barren and rocky in the wake of the Great Darkness.

The other thing that Obyrn did was never cease accepting duel challenges. So very slowly, he advanced to the intimidating Level of 79. The hurdle to 80 seemed all but impassible, however. Obyrn was now nearing the age of 40 and the challenges dried up as he continued to be unbeatable.