Chapter 876 (1/2)

“They speak of you,” Lyra had said. “You are known to them. It is… difficult to describe. There is curiosity. Interest. But it is largely idle. Most are content to wait until the status of Earth has been… decided. Then they will simply read the detailed report that the Cohort Overseer has made and pull your secrets directly from your recorded Aether.”

Randidly walked slowly back from visiting Lyra, wondering if he had learned anything useful there. About the society and its reaction to the announcement that someone had risen two Cohorts and caused a previously stalled planet to pass the Second Calamity. Perhaps he would, perhaps he wouldn’t. But it was somewhat reassuring that none was investigating him too actively.

Randidly and Lyra had then spoken about her goal in building an Aether construct that would allow herself to be hidden away from the world. The answer that Randidly received… was less than satisfying.

“I’m building an ark,” Lyra had announced. “Due to your… successes, I won’t say anything of your methods. But I do not wish Earth to have to rely solely upon you to survive what is to come. So, consider this backup, if we would need it the most.”

“And where would the people of Earth go on your ark?” Randidly had asked.

In typical Lyra fashion, she looked at him witheringly. “If the System truly controlled all of existence, where would new Cohorts come from? One thing I learned from Yystrix is that there is an edge to the System. We would simply need to head past that, wouldn’t we? It might be a far distance… but it is better to run than to die.”

An Ark. Just what they needed. To have an escape valve for potential if the pressure against Earth was growing too great…

But ultimately, Randidly said nothing. He could say nothing. For all that he wore a crown, he was one man. If Lyra truly chose to escape, that was her prerogative. But he intended to struggle as hard as he could to give people a future on Earth. This was their homeworld, after all. Even if it had been largely remade by the coming of the System.

And as for the third reason he wished to speak to Lyra… the status of the Creature…

Randidly had said nothing. Lyra didn’t bring it up, and Randidly hadn’t pressed. It was almost a relief to allow those wounds to remain dormant and speak relatively amicably with Lyra. Besides, who could tell whether Lyra wouldn’t just try and play more head games with him?

Shaking his head, Randidly focused his mind on moving forward. As he thought, he hadn’t found a trace of the Creature’s Aether in the area. He even had forcefully invaded the “Ark” folded in space within the tree to check. And unlike the strange runes on Ajax’s soul, Randidly was able to pierce through easily.

It was slightly different than what Randidly expected, but there was a completely empty city on a floating island hidden within the tree. All completely free from the touch of the Creature. Almost unwillingly, Randidly stopped searching and accepted Lyra’s explanation.

That, at least, was one less thing he needed to worry about now. At the moment, Randidly had other things on his mind.

After all, another one of his Riders that he had sent out had died. And perhaps most disturbingly, the one that had died was one of the original two that had wandered off.

But Randidly did his best to ignore his growing irritation. One more try. I’ll attempt it one more time…

So when Randidly returned to his hut, he activated Riders of the Baleful Wood and summoned more Riders. Due to increases in the Skill Level, Randidly was able to summon five Riders now that he was above Skill Level 50. Which, of course, meant that his Riders continued to be active somewhere, earning him experience. Honestly, it was a pretty good deal. The only frustrating part was that they continued to refuse to heed his orders and return.

“Don’t murder people,” Randidly opened with this time. Then he conjured his Crown of Cataclysm and Gloom to drive home his sincerity with the order. Again, he really didn’t mind his Riders wandering around; after all, he gained quite a few Skill Levels due to their actions. But there was a small chance they were up to some hijinks that would come back to bite him in the ass.

Some hijinks were par for the course, but he wanted to avoid anything that would serve as a significant distraction to his goal of preparing Earth for the Calamities. One way people might be distracted would be to find out that Randidly Ghosthound’s summons were committing murder sprees.

“Ah, and also go find your fellow Riders and bring them back here,” Randidly finished. “If you don’t, I will come find you in three days. So get to it.”

To Randidly’s surprise, even the rhino-camel-spider mounts nodded in understanding. Then the five of them galloped off, heading East. Shaking his head, Randidly returned to his hut and began to slowly create more metal to be used in his arm. Although the plant arm was serviceable, it would dissolve into ash whenever he stopped channeling it and focused on something else.

As a result, Randidly was very ready to create a functional arm he would have for a longer term.