Chapter 888 (1/2)

”So what is Neveah up to?” Randidly asked, finally moving to the topic at hand. The strange interlocking concepts of responsibility that were present were starting to unnerve Randidly.

Randidly didn’t regret the time spent sitting in his hut and refining himself in order to be prepared to face the opponents that would soon be coming his way. He needed quite a bit of power to deal with the impending Judgement, after all. For all that it sometimes felt he was letting life pass by, it was necessary.

But even Randidly would admit that it was easy. While he was in the hut, he was cut off from most of the consequences of his choices.

It was quite hard to walk out of the hut and see those who suffered because Randidly had focused on improving his own strength rather than building a base for Donnyton. In his mind, Donnyton wouldn’t have grown half as much as it had if he had remained and led the town forward. But there would have been lives saved, Randidly didn’t doubt.

Randidly pressed his eyes closed. All Paths have consequences. It's precisely because the other Paths seemed worse that I have acted this way. I probably didn't make the perfect decision, but I made a decision. I can only do so much alone.

To wear a Crown is to bear the weight of lives you were not able to save.

”...It's probably easiest for you to simply see her in… her element.” Decklan said. His voice was still rather subdued, but there was a certain amount of awe in his tone as he spoke of Neveah. ”It was... a creative solution. One that required her constant presence, but it bought us time. Which we desperately needed. These Frog People, generally, are much stronger than the average humans.”

”How much stronger?” Randidly asked. Idly, he turned and looked over the ship's railing. Behind them, the Long Minnow was bobbing after Decklan's huge vessel. Small lives, dragged haplessly along after Randidly as the proceeded directly toward the World Crater, as the Danger Zone was called. After his recent train of thoughts, he suddenly paused and considered that impulse to bring them along.

Perhaps he should not have brought these two innocent and low-Level sailors along with them. Perhaps he should have forced the sapphire-eyed girl to accept his assistance. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

”All of them are above Level 50, and they are a relatively warlike people. Most have combat-related Classes,” Decklan said. ”Plus, they can leap off their own vessels to swim up and catch human ships unawares. They are a dangerous foe without numbers. And even one escaping and living to talk about the state of Earth would ruin Neveah's plan.”

Once more Randidly's eyebrows rose. But Decklan just smirked and shook his head slightly to indicate that would be spoiling the surprise. Shrugging, Randidly settled back to wait. In the meantime, he closed his eyes and practiced visualizing the patterns necessary for Engravings capable of growth.

Endlessly he practiced, refining his ability to create mental images. After seeing how useful the patterns had been in the lead up to creating his arm, Randidly had a newfound respect for the process. Even if it didn’t rise to the level of a Skill, familiarity meant something. Using these precious seconds…

Maybe this can prevent more lives lost down the road...

Luckily, he didn't have to wait long. For all that the Long Minnow had been fast, it paled in straight line speed in comparison to sea leviathan that was the Incognita. Three tall and sturdy masts seemed to reach out with their sails and snatch the wind out of the air to glide rapidly across the water.

At some point, Randidly could cleanly feel his connection to his Riders snap back into place as he came within range of the Skill. Instantly, he felt surprise and relief radiating through the connection into hiTheirere emotions hit him like a wave from the sea he was gliding across.

The images were mixed at first, but Randidly quickly was able to parse apart a sense of what they were telling him. And first, he gritted his teeth in annoyance at the bad news. Of the Riders he sent, one remained out of the first two, one remained of the second group of three, and only two remained of the final bunch he sent off.

All of them sent confusing requests that they be allowed to leave the service of Neveah, who was a brutal taskmaster in their eyes. That caused Randidly to chuckle. Neveah, a taskmaster? That free spirit used to barely pay attention to her actions? It was good to see that Neveah was learning to accept responsibility as well. They would need it, as the System upped the ante on the threats it was throwing at them.

Immediately, Randidly felt bad for how suspicious of her he had been. He should have put two and two together when she insisted that he fulfill the gardening promise she had made and refused to leave the Danger Zone to do it herself. Even if her priorities were still a bit confusing, she was clearly someone who stood by her word.

When Decklan's boat arrived, the dock was so barren that Randidly shook his head. It didn’t look like any force had been left here to man the docks. Sailors swarmed down from the heavily built ship to pull it to the mooring. Luckily it seemed that the harbor was plenty deep, and the dock extended far out into the water in order to allow this ship to do precisely this.

Hopping to the ground, Randidly called back to Kerrar. ”Wait here. If I'm not back before nightfall... well, I suppose you can sail well enough to find your way home, right?”

Even from afar, Randidly could see Kerrar flush with indignation at the jab at his ability, but Randidly just grinned and turned away. Instead, he followed Decklan's loping form as he headed toward the center of the island.

Most of the island seemed consumed by a vast marsh, but they followed a carefully constructed series of wooden platforms that kept them out of the water. Feeling with his Grasp of the World Seed, could sense that the water was only about knee deep in most places. But that still meant quite a bit of discomfort from drenched shoes for most people, so he could understand why they had made the wooden path. And yet...

Randidly sighed inwardly. No wiggling my toes in the mud today, I suppose. Besides, I'm here on official Earth business, so...

Deprived of one of the great pleasures of moving around barefoot, Randidly woodenly followed after Decklan. He could sense Decklan's surprise as Randidly managed to keep pace with the man. Honestly, Randidly didn't know why people always seemed to want to challenge him to footraces. It was pointless. With even the passive from Yyrwood Body of Yggdrasil, his physical capabilities were far beyond what they had originally been with his stats.

And his Agility stat was not low. Decklan probably focused heavily on Agility, but Randidly didn’t think that the man would have broken 600, as Randidly had. The victor of a race was a foregone conclusion.

To pass the time, Randidly used his Aether Detection to feel through Decklan’s status screen to try and determine how high his Agility was. Unfortunately, it was a somewhat arduous process. As near as Randidly could tell, Decklan was close to 400 Agility… but wasn’t there yet. Which was certainly impressive.

Or at least Randidly thought so. His sense of perspective was so skewed that it was difficult to know.

Eventually, they arrived at a strange pyramid. Without hesitation, Decklan plunged into the System made construct. Randidly followed. Inside was clearly a maze, but there was a large hole punched in the ceiling that Decklan simply leapt toward. Beyond that, there was another ceiling hole and then another, until they climbed easily up through the shortcut made in the pointlessly obtuse maze around them.

Honestly, Randidly was relieved. He hated mazes.