Chapter 853 (1/2)

Randidly looked around at the ten or so people inside the tent.

Other than himself, there was Helen, Dozer, Alana, Annie, Ptolemy, and a half dozen high-Level fighters from the assorted squads. It was somewhat nostalgic to see these people again, and also somewhat saddening that there were so many people wearing the crest of Donnyton that Randidly didn’t recognize.

This time, he wouldn’t spend his entire time back on Earth hiding from the group in Zone 1.

Alana frowned at his arm. “So, maybe start with what happened to your arm?”

Idly, Randidly reached up and touched the stump. “...actually, that might not be a good idea. The reason I don’t currently have an arm… is rather complicated. And I think it would miss out on some of the real meat of the story. I’ll just tell you a quick version of what I’ve been doing for the last five months, and what it means for Earth. I did a fair bit of research while I was over there.”

So Randidly explained about being called back by Helen for the tournament. He told them about the losing war with the Wights and the trek across the Spearman School to Hastam. Then he explained to them about Skarch and Azriel, and also Silo.

Fighting, losing, retreating… pushed all the way back to Hastam. Learning about images, using images, activating Skills with just images… some of the people in the back muttered about that, but when Randidly fell silent, so did they.

So he continued.

Then he explained a little of what he learned about the Spearman, and how the First and Second Calamity worked, and what the Earth should expect. He did, however, leave out that Octavius had contacted him and told him that there was a small chance that someone would file for a variance, considering they had foreknowledge.

Then Randidly explained going to the Death School and learning about bigger images and the specific details of the Second Calamity. Then he talked his way through the last fight and finally, his Master’s Ascension. Briefly, he laid out what that meant for Tellus.

There were times during his telling that the listeners asked questions. Mostly Alana and Dozer. With Helen’s help, he was able to handle everything and explain how things on Tellus worked. The group was also rather bemused that Helen was an individual from this far off world, returned with Randidly due to his Domain.

Randidly also couldn’t help but notice the frequent glares that Helen threw at Dozer.

In the end, Randidly finished and everyone sat silently, considering the information. Hopefully, these people would disseminate the important parts of what he said, and then Donnyton would be much more prepared-

“Alright,” Alana finally said, “But what happened to your arm? Shouldn’t have enough time passed for it to regrow? I thought nothing wouldn’t heal with the System around. That, and avoiding colds, are the only benefits.”

Randidly winced. The short answer is that I spliced apart the source code the System made for my body in order to have purchase with my Domain on the world. Otherwise, I likely would have been prevented from doing this…

But that was likely more information than was necessary. And Randidly didn’t feel like being bogged down with the esoteric details of Domains. “It’s a cost of my Domain. I had to give up my arm. But, I’ll probably just build a replacement. Which will be enjoyable, I suppose.”

Dozer hummed softly. “Metal limbs. Let me know how they feel.”

“Huh, and here I thought you’d been perfectly happy with your body,” Annie said lightly. “Who knew you wanted to make such a sudden and inane change.”

For one of the first times that Randidly could remember, he saw genuine sadness on Dozer’s face. The man sighed and casually picked up Annie. “Okay, okay, you guys keep going. We need to talk.”

“Hey! You can’t just do this- hey, you, throw me my bow! Quick! Hey wait-”

Dozer buoyed away the shouting and scratching Annie, while everyone else watched awkwardly.

In a delightful display of conversational acumen, Ptolemy spoke to fill the silence. “So your Domain has a cost? I suppose it must be rather strong then.”

“... yes, it is, in a way,” Randidly said, grateful for the distraction from the continued shouts from outside the tent. “The gist of it is that… I have an entire world in my chest. With my Domain, I can bring people into and out of that world.”

“So you can hide an army under your sleeve,” Alana said.

Randidly grinned at her and winked. “Maybe. But right now it’s pretty mentally draining for me to move more than just one or two people across at the same time. As I level the Skill, I don’t doubt it will improve.”

Alana grunted and nodded. “Learning about the Calamities is helpful too. So the First one is just a big fight, and the Second will be about deciding on Earth’s image?”

“Yea, and like I said, I won’t be able to supply that. That duty is going to fall to someone else.” Randidly said with a nod.