Chapter 861 (1/2)

With a sizzle, the power running through the iron bracer proved to be too much. After dancing with sparks of electricity for a second, the entirety of it split in half with a sharp crack.

Randidly grimly looked down at the sparking remnants on the wooden table. “Seriously, fuck this.”

It gave him a certain grim satisfaction to take the metal piece outside of the cabin and drop the remnants into a fire pit. Then he opened an Eruption of the Blasing Leyline below the metal and melted all of it to the point that there was mostly just a puddle remaining.

For good measure, he used his Frigid Ash, Extinguishing Storm to cool the molten metal back down, crushed it into a ball, and threw it as far as Randidly could manage off the nearby hill to the thick forest below. He considered screaming then, but it seemed slightly childish.

So he just glared for almost a minute.

Feeling much better, Randidly returned to the small living quarters he had made for himself to the Northeast of Donnyton and considered the details of creating a growing Engraving within the heavy leather-bound book he had received from the Willow Tree Spear Style. Not only was the reality of creating such an engraving more difficult than he had expected, but it also was an incredible time sink.

Randidly released a breath. Then, in spite of his barely controlled fury, he began to work again.

Of course, he failed once more within ten minutes. Randidly knew rationally that half of the problem was precisely his own piss poor attitude, but he couldn’t help but be frustrated by the monotony and relative ease with which the base portion of the growing engraving was made. It was deceptively designed to relax the creator into making a mistake.

This time Randidly had Acri chop the remnant bits to little pieces. He was about to start again on another attempt, but this time he forcefully stopped himself. This wasn’t going anywhere. He hadn’t even gained a Skill Level in the last few attempts. Sighing, he stood and left his basic shelter. Hopefully, the fresh air would do a lot to take the edge off of his temper.

The level of difficulty, if not the specific cause, had been expected. Yet somehow it got under his skin. Randidly carefully reflected on the past few hours as he approached and sat under an old oak tree. What he hadn’t expected was how… particular the requirements for the growing Engraving were. Because the problem was not one specificity and skill, but of consistency.

The base pattern for the growing Engraving had to be exactly the same through the entirety of the pattern across the equipment. Randidly believed he had understood this. But he hadn’t truly understood how difficult it was to warp the pattern to fit the item.

For example, it was quite easy for Randidly to create the base pattern on a flat sheet of metal. Rather time-consuming, but very doable. However, if that sheet of metal was bent into a ring, the entire pattern had to be subtly twisted in order for it to fit on its new medium. Otherwise, the pattern not only wouldn’t match but it wouldn’t join cleanly with itself on the other side of the material.

It was a weird sort of mental muscle that involved three-dimensional space and fidelity to reality that Randidly couldn’t quite manage currently.

Which made Randidly realize the real power and frustrating quality of the process: it took experience with variables beyond even the normal ones by a fair margin. His Mana Engraving Skill was quite high, all things considered, but this was even beyond that. He was mentally sore in ways that he hadn’t understood were possible.

Breathing out through his nose, Randidly leaned his head against the pitted tree bark behind him. After speaking with Sam about his armor, he had bid farewell and found a place outside of the city to gather himself before he met with everyone else. With a message to Donny, Randidly set up a date in a few days time to greet the leaders of Donnyton, and some special talents they wanted him to meet.

In addition, Randidly had planned to suggest the Squads duel against him at that time. But he really wanted some time to begin setting the groundwork for his metal arm before he did that. This growing engraving was a part of that.

Although Randidly had a nagging feeling that he should head to the Southeast as soon as possible, Neveah was much more willing to communicate once he finished the tasks that she had set to him. According to her, another portal had opened to a foreign world full of monsters in the wake of a Danger Zone being completed. She had her hands rather full keeping the lid tight over the pot.

Apparently, the population density in this new world was quite a bit higher.

However, Neveah claimed all she was doing was eliminating those that wandered through the portal to keep word from spreading; therefore Randidly’s presence would make it easier but not solve the problem. So he didn’t necessarily need to drop everything to head down to assist.

So he had time. So he practiced. He aimed to improve.

Ultimately, Randidly had come to one conclusion: he likely would need to upgrade his mechanical arm multiple times as he improved with it. He originally hoped that the could create something with a powerful growth aspect now, and allow it to grow into something capable for the future. But it seemed that it was unreasonable to expect such an aspect to be easily produced. Instead…

Randidly’s expression turned stormy as he thought about the broken bracers.

To distract himself, Randidly walked down the hill into the Production District. His riders he left at his hut, willing them to do whatever amused them in the surrounding area. Below, he ran into a problem; he had planned on purchasing more materials, but the people here didn’t want to barter. They required cash.

So a vexed Randidly considered all the ways he could make cash relatively quickly.