Chapter 955 (1/2)

“Why didn’t he come himself?” Mrs. Hamilton asked quietly. Her hands were tightly folded in front of her, and Helen had the distinct impression that the other woman was only doing that to hide a tremor.

Helen didn’t know what to say to the question. She had some theories, but sharing them would be more painful than helpful. Instead, she ignored the words and walked over to the long wooden table in Mrs. Hamilton’s workshop. Helen had planned to grandly sweep every away, but when she approached the things she found there gave her pause.

Row after row of vividly colored liquid gleamed before her in streamlined tubes. Only after staring for a half-second did she realize that these were all potions. Seeing so many varieties of concentrated potions was a little shocking, even for Helen, so she settled on carefully moved the fragile glassware to the side before depositing her precious cargo on to the table.

Less dramatic, but Randidly’s orders hadn’t included any specifics; Helen was just a courier.

After waving her hand, four ripe fruits sat on the table. Immediately, the air in the workshop changed dramatically. In spite of herself, Helen breathed deeply inward as soon as she saw the fruits. Their rich aroma spiraled into her nostrils. From just breathing in their released energy, Helen felt a queer state of peace settle over her.

If she had looked at her Stats, Helen was sure that her Control and Focus had increased by a few points.

Mrs. Hamilton’s brows scrunched together as she took several short steps to approach the table. She didn’t immediately attempt to inspect the fruits. Instead, she removed a small walkie-talkie from her interspatial ring and spoke into it. “Beryl? Make sure my private workroom is sealed.”

“Got it,” Came the crackling reply. In the next few seconds, Helen felt another change to the air in the workroom; the small flows of circulating air ceased.

Helen raised an eyebrow at Mrs. Hamilton. She had seen walkie-talkies and cell phones before, but mostly they were used by low-Level Squads. Seeing Mrs. Hamilton use it, when the messaging function provided by the System was so much more convenient, seemed rather strange.

“There’s someone in Donnyton who can interfere and change with System messages,” Mrs. Hamilton said lightly. “We are still trying to track down him or her… but suffice to say, there have been a few inexplicable disappearances of rare products recently. Not enough to motivate a full-scale investigation, but we have our feelers out.”

“...Isn’t it even more simple to overhear something using those devices?” Helen asked.

Chuckling, Mrs. Hamilton nodded as she cautiously reached down toward one of the fruits. “True. But then wouldn’t we know exactly where this mysterious person was going to strike? Anyways… these are…”

“A gift,” Helen said lightly. Which was all the information Randidly told her to pass on to Mrs. Hamilton. Not that Helen knew much more than that, but she had her own guesses after seeing Randidly’s pale face after he made these. One she witnessed him condensed, but the others…

Randidly had already had those. And based upon the energy that was wafting away from the original three, these were a type of treasure that would grow more powerful as time passed. Although they were just fruit, Helen licked her lips greedily. Undoubtedly, eating them would be delicious.

Of the four fruits, the one Mrs. Hamilton lightly touched was a brilliant emerald color. Reflected by the thick energy around it, it was one of the original three. It was squat and plump, like a tomato. There was also a dusk colored banana, a golden acorn, and a crimson apple laid out rather casually around it.

Rather than picking them up, Mrs. Hamilton took an action that mystified Helen; she chopped sharply with her hand and split the emerald fruit in half. Juice splattered on the table as the two severed halves rocked back and forth. The sweet flesh of the fruit released an even more dense cloud of wafting energy. The air was practically abuzz with it.

But with glowing eyes, Mrs. Hamilton picked up the two halves and inspected them closely. Curious, Helen followed her gaze.

“So, there are seeds,” Mrs. Hamilton said softly. Helen nodded. Because as she looked at the two halves of the fruit, she sensed a specific flow of energy in the flesh, guiding energy toward those two seeds. Under the nourishment of the fruit’s energy, those seeds were covered with densely packed golden runes, too tiny and bright to read.

Randidly doesn’t casually give gifts, Helen thought with a little bit of awe.

With a wave of her hand, Mrs. Hamilton stored away the fruits. Surreptitiously, she then ran her finger along the juicy top of the desk and brought a bead of the fruit's nectar to her lips. After tasting, Mrs. Hamilton didn’t appear happy. In fact, her expression became guarded and grim as she considered the messy work table.

For several seconds, Helen was somewhat at a loss of what she could do. But then Mrs. Hamilton spoke again.

“Make sure you tell him… he is welcome to come back anytime. What happened at the challenge… is being dealt with. It will not happen again.”

Shaking her head, Helen walked toward the door. With her mission accomplished here, it was time she returned to Randidly’s side. “Doesn’t something like this only need to happen once, Mrs. Hamilton?”

*****

Randidly massaged his temples, trying his best to figure out how to best utilize his large pile of PP that now filled his Path screen. Even after accomplishing the 3000 PP Path, Randidly still had a little over 4k PP to split between all his available Paths. But completing the Raiment of the World Tree Path had added two new choices to Randidly’s available Paths: Cleaver of the World Tree ??? and Weakness of the World Tree 0/500.

Things that come in sets of three… have meaning. They are bound by karma. Randidly thought with a frown. But while the Cleaver of the World Tree would probably give him a boost related to his offensive abilities like Raiment had boosted his defense, it was difficult to justify putting points into Weakness of the World Tree.