Chapter 875 (2/2)

Yet the Creature was not a being that Randidly would suspect to be willing to wait patiently. If it could be active and prepare, it would.

Frustrated, Randidly scratched his head. Then he grimaced. Hair was getting longer. He would need to get it cut soon.

It was exactly for this internal struggle that Randidly moved to see Lyra, even though he couldn’t trust her, even though she represented an unpredictable element, even though she would betray him in a heartbeat if she thought it was for the best of the Earth.

There was that, at least. Randidly implicitly understood that all that Lyra did was for the sake of the Earth. And perhaps that was the reason that he was willing to risk approaching her for information.

Lyra had set herself up in a flat grassland that was wide and filled with lush grass rustling in the wind. In the middle of the grassland, there was a tall oak tree with gnarled and crooked branches, its reach spreading over a rather large area. Calmly, Randidly walked into the shade of the tree and took a few seconds to inspect the irregular waves of Aether radiating off of it more directly.

It was a complicated array of rotating lines of power… and even when inspecting from this distance, Randidly wasn’t able to tell what it was. It was a mesmerizing series of wheels and extremely complicated Aether constructs. But somehow it seemed quite familiar…

And then it hit Randidly. This was a variation on what he had seen within the Raid Dungeon. This strange machinery… removed the overlay System and only allowed the main System within the area hidden inside of the tree.

With this in mind, Randidly studied the engineered Aether more critically. Now that he knew what he was looking for, Randidly was able to focus his intent and get a better picture of what was going on. This seemed to be a much more sophisticated version of the previous one because the swirling motion somehow sucked more of the System Aether into the immediate surrounding area. But why-

Ah, of course, Randidly thought with a dawning realization. The concentrated System Aether must be used as a cover. This variation has the added ability to hide this construct from the System…

Which was a dangerous proposition, but it was about in line with what Randidly had expected to find when he came here. But of course, considering the warning he had received from Octavius, perhaps staying here very long wouldn’t be a good idea…The System overlay wouldn’t be pleased if he passed from its purview after the antics he pulled in the prison.

Randidly stopped short of the trunk and slowly circled the tree. There was nothing distinguishing about the trunk to his normal senses, but that was fine. Randidly retreated out of the tree’s shade and sat, content to wait.

He luckily didn’t need to wait long.

“I’m surprised you came… you seem like one to hold a grudge.”

Randidly looked up. Lyra stood there, looking every bit of the lovely young woman she would have been, had she still been human. Her tawny hair curled down around her face in ringlets. Her lips were pursed somewhere between a pout and a smirk, which were her two favorite expressions. And her eyes. Those were what grabbed Randidly’s attention.

Violet-red, the eerie color of Aether.

“Of the two of us… I think it’s pretty obvious which of us would hold a grudge,” Randidly grunted as he stood up. “Didn’t you chase me after I refused to take you out to hunt monsters with me?”

Lyra flashed a bright smile at the sudden memory. She was, obviously, a beauty capable of being a movie start even as a teenager. And now that she had time to mature…

Yet Randidly felt a strange bitterness in his heart. You no longer have a true human body… just like, perhaps, I no longer have a true human soul. We can shape ourselves however we wish, with enough preparation. What is within, without. Without, within. Therefore, that beauty, my strength… can it truly be called the providence of humans…?

That line of thought quickly became too dark to bear, so Randidly shook his head and focused on Lyra.

She rolled her eyes. “Well, you were being an ass. It was rather misogynistic to refuse to let me help you just because I was a young lady.”

“I mean it was because you were sixteen.” Randidly retorted. Then he frowned. “Or am I misremembering? Were you even younger?”

Lyra smirked. “It’s rude to inquire after a lady’s age, young man.”

They both looked at each other, feeling the traces of the bond forged by being the original sword and sheath for Donnyton. That compelled connection by the System. But now it was just a memory, just a decipherable old construct of Aether between them.

As one, both of their faces became serious.

“So, why are you here?” Lyra asked quietly.

Randidly raised his chin. “To talk. Both about Earth… and about the society that runs the System.”