Chapter 865 (1/2)

Annoyed at the seemingly inexplicable trouble with this Skill, Randidly looked up at the three recently created Riders of the Baleful Court. They were slightly larger than the previous duo that he had created, but he chalked that up to the fact that the Skill Level had increased since the previous two had been summoned.

By a lot. More than was explained by Randidly just having them active. Whatever that damned duo was up to so distantly from him, it was certainly earning him Skill Levels.

But no matter how much he pulsed the energies of the Skill, they didn’t return. Was the distant reducing the connection that much? Yet it seemed too much of a reaction to simply unsummon them from a distance... Still. Randidly was not pleased that they were being so uncooperative.

He raised his finger and jabbed it at the three new summons. “Follow the connection. Find your two predecessors and then drag them back here. That’s an order.” As he said the word order, he allowed his Crown of Upheaval and Gloom to briefly manifest above his head. The figures of the riders bowed in understanding. Then they set off.

Which left Randidly standing in front of his little cabin, smoke from the forge wafting upward. Turning around, he walked back inside.

Waiting for him within was the buckler shield that he had been toying with for almost four hours. His first success in creating a growing Skill within an engraving. For his trouble, he had earned ten Levels in Mana Engraving, was enough to push him up to Level 196. He held a lot of anticipation for a new Path opening to him when he reached Level 200.

Hopefully, it would drastically reduce the hair pulling involved with this process.

The Skill contained in the buckler shield was Emerald Barrier. It was only a common ranked Skill and compared to what Randidly could manage on his own, it conjured a positively wispy barrier of thin emerald flames. After some brief experimentation, it could barely block the attack of a monster at Level 9.

Yet its a success, Randidly thought as he suppressed a grin.

Successive uses had raised its Level, even as it depleted its store of energy. At Level 4, Randidly waited patiently for the energy to come back while he continued to further perfect the curving flame pattern he had used to make it.

One big breakthrough Randidly had discovered was that the speed at which energy returned to the item after the Skill was used didn’t appear to be based upon the pattern or quality of the engraving at all. Rather, it was just based upon the materials. The common metals that constituted the buckler had little to no Mana affinity, and therefore the gathering of energy was rather slow. Almost one use every four hours charged up.

Which was why Randidly promised himself that his next attempt would be using more Mana sympathetic materials.

That speed of recovery slowly increased as the Level increased, but it was insignificant. From his observations, maybe the Levels already gathered shaved a minute off of the recharge time. Likely, if he hadn’t thought to check before he had Leveled it, he wouldn’t have noticed the shift in recharge time.

In addition, the text of the Engraving made him believe that as the Level increased, so did the number of charges that could be saved up, up to the Level itself. Which, once the Engraving grew to Level 20 or so and was allowed to charge up, would be extremely useful to those who acquired it.

While Randidly waited for the buckler to charge under the midday sun, he moved smoothly through his spear forms. He practiced both the action, the Skill, and then the image for his Spear Phantom and Ashen Kata Skills.

Randidly looked with pity at the circle of grass outside his hut where he practiced. The alternating heat and freezing cold from his images had turned it to withered brown weeds. Of course, a few hours near him would invigorate the foliage simply by virtue of his continued use of Ignition of the Emerald Essence. But Randidly felt somewhat bad; he was a walking ecological disaster.

When he finished moving through his spear forms, his focus shifted. Instead of combat, Randidly practiced Mana Engraving where his goal was not to create a growing Skill in an item, but simply imbue a Skill into the item. For the sake of perfecting the shape and image, Randidly continued to use Emerald Barrier.

After about seven attempts, Randidly held a tower shield in his hand and looked critically at its attributes.

Sturdy Tower Shield (Un) Lvl 36: A tower shield that was made with quality ingredients. It will hold up well underneath extended periods of violence. Birthed in an Emerald Fire II. Skill Lvl 36: Emerald Barrier (Skill Level limited by Item Level). Endurance +10. Health and Stamina +30.

Birthed in an Emerald Fire II: Strange energies were used to forge this shield. Due to that, the user will be invigorated by the vestiges of that birth. Vitality and Focus +9.

Randidly nodded shortly to himself. He had tested this Skill as well, and the conjured barrier really was about the strength of a monster at Level 36. Most humans could break it with Skills, but against monsters, it certainly served its purpose.

Plus, the greatest benefit was that it wouldn’t drain the user’s Mana pool. Over the course of a long fight, saving every pinch of Mana counted.

Nodding sharply, Randidly prepared to make another Engraved Skill attempt with a higher Level weapon but was distracted by the sound of someone walking up the path toward his hut. He briefly cast his mind around for who it could be, but nobody came to mind. His meeting with the Donnyton leadership was tomorrow afternoon, after all.

Would someone come out to visit him early…?

Obvious he would sense if it was those damned Riders, and he believed he would have sensed long before if it was Neveah or someone else who was touched by his Aether, like Helen. Perhaps it was Sam?

There was a chill in his heart when Randidly walked outside because another option presented itself to his mind. But no, it was not Lyra that walked up the path toward his cabin. It was a gruff man, wearing the distinctive blood spattered leather apron of a butcher.

Slightly bemused, Randidly stood outside of his house and watched the man approach. When he reached the summit of the hill, the man nodded an extended a hand toward Randidly. “Well met. You’re new in these parts, right? I’m Jameson, the local butcher.”

“...Erickson,” Randidly said slowly as he shook the man’s hand. It was a firm grip. On a whim, Randidly scanned the man with Aether; he was Level 42 Meat Artisan.