Chapter 883 (2/2)

Although the strange, fleshy pink and green core was hanging right in front of Randidly, that wasn't why Randidly was frowning. No, Randidly was considering his next move.

Because through their mental communication, Thorn informed him that Neveah had ordered Thorn to stay here and destroy any of the frog people that washed ashore. And to do it quickly, before anyone saw them, or they saw people. Randidly also learned from Thorn that Decklan was with Neveah, accompanying her.

Perhaps more disturbing was that the connection to his Riders still wasn't close enough to sense their specific location. But he was able to get a faint sense that they were even further to the Southeast, across the wide sea that separated this Zone. Right in the direction where Randidly could feel Neveah's constant and even connection.

Snorting, Randidly stood. ”Thanks for the info, and for working so hard. Soon I'm going to need to head across the sea, so you handle everything here, alright?”

Cooing in dissatisfaction, Thorn's core contracted.

Randidly shrugged. ”Yes well, you can't very well dig through the sea, can you? Have you tried moving through water?”

Thorn slumped in defeat, causing Randidly to chuckle.

”...yea, I figured it was something like that. Everyone has weaknesses. Even I do. Although if I had to describe them...” Randidly trailed off. Thorn just seemed confused, so he just shrugged and rubbed Thorn’s core affectionately.

It was difficult to climb back up to the surface level through the series of tunnels and cracks that Thorn had created, but from there Randidly was rather undecided on what to do. Very soon after he had headed in this direction to surprise Neveah, he might have just hit a stumbling block that would reveal his plans... After all, Randidly didn't have the heart to try and convince Thorn not to tell Neveah that he was here.

The plant was rather innocent; it simply wouldn't understand the reason for the deception.

So Randidly sighed and opened up a connection to Neveah.

Neveah, I'm headed your way. I have some down time, so I'll help you out with the portal for a bit.

For several seconds there was no answer, and then Neveah sent a wave of pleasure across their connection.

Good timing. Do you have more of these bug Riders? They help with the image.

Frowning, Randidly tried to parse apart what Neveah was saying. What did she mean, help with the image...?

Well, it's not as though I can't make more if they keep Leveling up the Skill... I see you've been putting them to work for the past several weeks? Why didn't you tell me that you were using them? I thought they had gone rogue.

Neveah seemed surprised. Oh. I thought you sent me them on purpose. They just showed up. And they kill well.

Shaking his head, Randidly told Neveah he would be there soon and ended the connection. They just showed up? Well when he had allowed them free reign, he supposed it made sense that they would head toward another being that produced similar energy to himself… Something like instincts?

The sun hung low over Scant, fat and hot causing several beads of sweat to form on Randidly’s neck. In spite of his internal conflict about this situation, he sighed in contentment. Despite the rather... pungent smell of dead fish that was wafting out of Scant, the heat and humidity reminded Randidly of the few vacations he had been able to take into Tropical climates before the System arrived.

Those were good memories. It was hard to come by those, these days.

As he walked deeper into the city, he idly wondered whether there would be a point that tourism became a widespread thing on Earth once more. Currently, most people stayed in one spot because of the external threat of monsters and to sharpen their Skills, but as the years turned into decades, Randidly suspected that the rate of advancement for Skills would fall off a cliff.

And after that happened, the speed of Leveling would fall even more quickly once people lost the ambition they had to grow.

Randidly affectionately dubbed this arms race period between the different Zones early-stage System-ism. The period of growth would likely push them to the limits of what was possible for humanity. After that would come mid-stage System-ism, where the next few generations of children, who would be born into the System, would push a little past the current exploits. After all, with the benefit of experience, they would have an edge over their predecessors.

As for Late-stage System-ism...

Randidly grimaced as he walked past a stall where the reeking innards of fish were heaped into a pile to be sold in bulk. Hopefully, he would be able to overcome the Calamities and give Earth the chance to reach that point. That was why he was here.

Getting distracted by other things was inevitable, but he needed to keep it to a minimum. For now, he should gather information and then head toward Neveah.