Chapter 861 (2/2)

The easiest way was to find one of Randidly’s old friends who basically controlled the economy of Donnyton. No doubt they would be able to fund him. But that struck him as profoundly unsatisfactory, and would not set the tone right for some of the planning talks he wished to have about how Donnyton should be governed in the future.

Instead, Randidly made a call to his Head of Operations at Erickson Steel.

“Ah, you're, back.” Tatiana said. Randidly could hear the smile in her voice. “It’s been almost six months, you know. Several people have tried to buy us up. You are lucky most of the core employees like you; otherwise you would have come back to find yourself muscled out of the business.”

That made Randidly grin. “Muscling me out, huh. Who?”

“Ricky Stain, of all people. He made quite a bit of money acting as a trader between the Orchard and the Monster city. Probably wanted to get back at you, too, for ruining his party.” Tatiana said.

After listening to a status report of the company and offering a few solutions, Randidly cut to the chase. “Look, I’m in Donnyton currently; is there any way you can send some of my assets to me here to use? Quickly.”

“Assets?: Tatiana seemed amused. “You told me to reinvest your cut into the facilities and research for the company. That’s what I did. Plus, you didn’t want to be paid a wage if you weren’t going to be around. Very admirable, that. Probably why the employees like you. But anyway, you don’t have any assets to speak of.”

Randidly blinked. “What? I own the company that makes the best steel in the world. I talked to Sam not four hours ago, and he was full of praises for it. And he was sure to grumble about the price.”

“Yea, there is profit. And that was reinvested. Maybe check back next quarter? Perhaps your investment portfolio will have a better rate then.”

Randidly felt vexed, but he knew he had to let this run its course. He had been gone for quite some time, and he didn’t doubt that Tatiana was being honest about the takeover. It couldn’t have been easy to stand firm when the amount of time Randidly had been gone slowly continued to grow. This teasing was a small revenge. Small enough that he didn’t mind it.

“Tatiana,” Randidly finally said.

“Yes, Mr. Ghosthound?” She replied impishly. The smirk was clear in her tone.

“There isn’t anything you can do?”

“Well, I suppose I could move some things around…” Through the phone receiver, Randidly could hear the sound of Tatiana typing on a keyboard. Likely counting up petty cash stores. “There should be an Erickson Steel distribution center there, right? I’ll make a few calls. Man in charge is named Nick, he will give you enough to manage until I can ship you some hard currency. Will you be in Donnyton long?”

“At least a week,” Randidly said, unsure of how long he would actually be in the town. “And Tatiana? Thanks.”

“No problem. I’m glad you are back, Randidly. Don’t be a stranger.” The phone line went dead.

Very soon, Randidly had his cash. Several stops into shops later, Randidly’s expression was even worse than when he had left his work area for a distraction. Without thinking, Randidly had paid the quoted price for materials at the first location he went to. When he proceeded to the next and saw he had given almost double the market price for very barebones equipment he had wanted to experiment with, Randidly was furious.

He had half a mind to rush back and demand a refund, but Randidly hoped he hadn’t grown that petty. Instead, he just secretly memorized the name and promised himself to never, ever shop from such an individual ever again.

And so he returned to his hut, his ring filled with base equipments to attempt the growth engraving. After splashing water on his face, Randidly got to it.

It really was soothing, in a very monotonous, horrible way. It was the careful and considered drawing of a shape onto an armor. The only important bit for this portion was making sure the entire thing was completely symmetrical. Not only in shape and size, but also in the depth of Mana engraved into each portion.

The latter mistakes wouldn’t ruin it now but would become a dangerous liability when the Skill hidden within began to grow.

Randidly tsk’d with dissatisfaction as he leaned back from his most recent attempt. This one too was a failure, although not to the degree that it would smoke and split when filled with energy like some of the others. But as Randidly stared fixedly at the minute flaws in the pattern, he had a strange epiphany.

By drawing this pattern… I’m adding a dimension to the item that the Skill can inhabit. The reason it has to be so uniform, self-contained, and specific is because… what you are essentially doing is creating a world for the growing Skill Engraving to live in.

That gave Randidly pause. Because sometimes, the right image was all you needed. And Randidly knew a thing or two about creating a world from scratch.