Chapter 866 (2/2)

“Fucking shit,” Randidly swore. The smoldering pieces of his successfully Leveling buckler were spread out in the surrounding area like so much shrapnel from a grenade. As he had been warned repeatedly, just as the Skill reached Level 10, the buckler had exploded into three dozen pieces of flaming metal. Randidly had to create thin whips of vines that exploded out of the ground between his body and his arm to endure most of the blast.

As it was, the only remaining arm was rather scratched up by the detonation. To the point that he could sense Sulfur’s pitying “I-told-you-so” from where he had hung the armor up inside the hut.

Grinding his teeth, Randidly ignored his uppity equipment and carefully gathered the broken pieces together and carefully examined them to determine the culprit for the failure. At the very least, he would find an answer to this.

He didn’t have to look far, but the outcome surprised him. He had not thought that what he had made was a perfect product, but the pattern he made was sound enough that it had not given way. No, the real problem…

...was the Leveling of the Skill itself.

As it grew in Level, it required increasing Mana depth in the Engraving to contain the substance of what it was. The world he had created for it had rapidly grown too small for his Skill. As it reached the limit, it forcefully and haphazardly attempted to pry open a larger world for itself, only to shatter the equipment. What was especially frustrating was that the limit for the Engraving was reached only at Level 10.

Of course, as Randidly had noted previously, he had been attempting to make the Engraving as shallow as possible so there were as few flaws in the Engraving as possible. As deepness increased, there was also a sensation of… wideness. The deeper you went, the wider the area that Mana had to fill. And that extra area was more difficult to patrol for uniformity.

Obviously, Randidly could make the engraving somewhat deeper, but that sort of improvement… how many Levels would it add to the potential of the item? Certainly not a meaningful amount. And if at the end of the day, all items would eventually explode…

That couldn’t be right, could it?

Frustrated, Randidly turned to the Leather-bound book he had received. It was four hours later, perhaps almost 8 PM, that he set aside the book with a sigh.

“As expected… it’s a more complicated technique…” Randidly said with a grimace.

Indeed, as he had pushed deeper in the mystifying tome, he found passage relating to the very issue that he encountered. What followed was a dizzying series of layered engravings that one could make on an item in order to ensure that the Mana capacity of the item would grow along with the Skill.

This slowed the rate of growth of the Level, but it did ensure theoretically infinite potential. But the reason that this technique was placed after the base technique was not just the increased complexity of Engraving. Rather, the infinite growth was predictable growth that would just expand downward from what was already there.

Which meant uniformity from practice was necessary. As the Skill grew, the infinitesimal flaws that started would become magnified slowly until they destroyed the item. Consistency was even more important. The shortcut he had discovered couldn’t solve this issue for him.

Randidly groaned audibly. It looked like he couldn’t escape the truth that he would need to practice for a very long time before he would be able to use this technique reliably. Which was so unfortunate. He had quite a few dreams about creating a metal arm that could grow with him…

In the midst of his thoughts, a small noise grabbed his attention. For the second time of the day, Randidly paused and cocked his head to the side; there were people coming up the path to his house. A scan of Aether confirmed that one of them was Jameson the Meat Artisan once more. The other was an individual he didn’t recognize, but the man was a Level 49 High Knight.

“High Knight, huh…” Randidly said with a yawn. He supposed it was very impressive to obtain such a valuable Class. It probably had a much higher growth rate than even Donny’s Class. Of course, that difference was probably more than made up through Soulskills. But the fact such a man was also at Level 49 proved that he was strong.

Now, why was the butcher bringing this man up to meet Randidly…?

When the two arrived, Randidly walked outside of his hut and greeted them.

Jameson was much more respectful this second time visiting. Seeing the man’s hesitation that masked his fear, Randidly felt profoundly sad. This, perhaps, was one of the worst effects of his power. “Ah, Mr. Erickson… I’m sorry to bother you twice in one day, but Jerome insisted-”

“Please Sir,” Instantly, the High Knight Jerome was on his knees bowing before Randidly. “I was the one who purchased the shield you sold to Jameson. Did you also perform that Engraving? If so… I beg you to cover my entire armor with it!”

Randidly blinked. Then he frowned down at the High Knight. He wanted another engraving?

“...maybe. On two conditions. First… the price will be 500 Donnyton coins,” Randidly announced. Instantly, shocked expressions covered both of the two’s faces. Randidly winced. Was that too much…?

But he continued on regardless, his voice lowering an octave until it rumbled threateningly. “The second condition… I don’t really want to be disturbed here. I assume you two can see to it that there won’t be a flood of people coming up to beg for equipment?”

Both flinched. It also had the effect of rubbing the shock off of their faces. Randidly was pleased with himself. Good. Hopefully, that little chiding will make them more willing to shell out coins… bah, I wish I had more time to spend these coins though…

It didn’t take long for Jerome to make his decision. “Y-Yes! I agree!”