Chapter 957 (1/2)

Randidly shook his head sorrowfully when looking at the rewards from the Fiery Sharpshooter Path. Basically, everything but the stats had been completely devoured by the Ignition of the Emerald Essence series of Skills. Although it wasn’t quite a Skillset, it was certainly a powerful tool that Randidly had relied on to get to this point.

But I suppose it’s worth spending some time to figure out if it can become a Skillset, Randidly thought as he rubbed his chin. With these absorptions… the power should increase a small amount?

Immediately, Randidly conjured the Emerald Essence and looked deeply at it for almost ten seconds. But after casually summoning a fistful of emerald flame, Randidly was unable to see any real difference. As before, the fire burned. In terms of damage it dealt… it would be difficult to figure any shift out without an opponent on which to test the flames.

The rewards from the Mana Lich Path were marginally less disappointing because he did obtain a Skill and several passive boosts relating to Mana based Skills. But the Skill was a defensive one that only had a passive element. It would add something to Randidly’s repertoire, but it wasn’t very important now.

Plus, with how quickly Randidly could blow through his own Mana… Well, his initial Mana pool was likely extremely high compared to his contemporaries, so perhaps he was underestimating its effect. But the reward was just somewhat of a letdown after the reward given by the Mana Ghoul Path. Even if Randidly immediately could clearly see the lines of Mana than ran through his limbs.

Indeed, perhaps what Randidly noticed most of all from his time manipulating Ignition of the Emerald Essence was his immediate ability to see the branching lines of Mana that fed into the flame itself. Randidly wondered whether he would have just a transparent a view on the genesis of a Skill in other individuals.

Of the three, Randidly supposed that the Experimenter II Path rewards were the most valuable. The already interesting Creator’s Luck was transformed into a two Rarity higher Creator’s Knack. Randidly never struggled to obtain Skills with high Rarities, but he understood that a portion of his power was due to the high Rarity of his bread and butter Skills.

Or rather, considering the fact that many of these Skills were self-created, the System had given his Skills a high Rarity precisely because they were so powerful. As long as he maintained a certain level of poignancy and drive, his Skills would receive extremely high Rarity grades.

So it was with a bit of expectation that Randidly opened up his list of available Paths and took another look at what he had available to him. Immediately, Randidly smiled at the new option available to him.

Friend to Humanity 0/100, Mantle of the Patron 0/500, Aether Convergence II ???, Perfect Soul Bond 0/1000, the Bell of Doom Tolls 0/600, Growth of Yggdrasil III 0/2000, The Ashes of Ulaat, Patron of Ash 0/1000, Order Ducis: Font of Guidance ???, Humanity’s Torch 0/500, Bearing of a Teacher ???, Puppet Master 0/100, Pain Immunity I 0/250, Physique of the Grim Chimera 0/1000, Chimera’s Grudge I ???, Cleaver of the World Tree ???, Weakness of the World Tree 0/500, Experimenter III 0/500

The question was whether Randidly wanted to use a further 500 PP in order to finish the next Experimenter Path and upgrade the Creator’s Skill even further. Likely, the next batch of training he participated in would benefit from this Skill immensely; after all, Randidly planned on spending quite of bit of that time working on his metal making and Mana Engraving.

Both of these tasks would be boosted by the Skill. Plus, Randidly had some plans to push the state-of-the-art for metallurgy a few steps forward. Randidly didn’t have any sort of special knowledge about metal, but he was confident that his ability to test and combine things wouldn’t be casually rivaled by anyone at this point in time.

But Randidly currently only had 2859 PP to fulfill a half dozen of his desires. Of that amount, Randidly’s intention was to save 1500 of it to throw into the Growth of Yggdrasil when he unlocked it. Which left 1359 PP. If he took away 500 for the next experimenter Path, the remainder was less than 1000. Which was the amount that Randidly was primarily concerned with at the moment.

Because he had assumed there would be a middle step between his next Path and Growth of Yggdrasil III.

Ashes of Ulaat, Perfect Soul Bond, and Physique of the Grim Chimera all required 1000 PP.

It wouldn’t be such a big deal if I saved a small amount less than 1500 for the Growth of Yggdrasil… Randidly reflected. Since the total Path was only 2000, he would be capable of getting through that amount of PP in a few months. Considering that the was about to face the final Judgement that loomed over the Path of a Heretic, he would likely gather a huge chunk of that PP very quickly over the course of that fight.

As long as the Judgement isn’t a pushover.

So, the question then became: was having the improved Creator Skill worth slowly down finishing the Growth of Yggdrasil Path? Although Randidly found it an incredibly close question, the ultimate answer in his heart was yes.

The Yggdrasil image is what drives my personal Strength, but Lyra is right about one thing… Randidly thought bitterly. I can’t help the Earth with my images any longer. But if the metal that Erickson Steel produces is of sufficiently high quality, Sam’s people can make weapons more than capable of making up for missing out on my images.

So Randidly threw 500 PP in the Experimenter III Path, gaining 2 Perception every 25 PP spent.

Congratulations! You have completed the Experimenter III Path! Your desire to uncover the secrets of the world leads you ever higher in pursuit of knowledge. As you climb the steep slope in front of you, your view is severely limited. But there exists a certainty in your heart that the summit will lead you to something far beyond your limited understanding. For with a view comes perspective, and from perspective comes the power to determine your destiny. Focus and Willpower +50. The Skill Creator’s Knack ® Lvl 1 has evolved into Creator’s Aptitude (A) Lvl 1. All prior effects are slightly improved. There is now an almost nonexistent chance to channel the spirit of the origin of a crafting material while combining, for an exceedingly impressive result.

The amount of Stats he gained while completing the Path was slightly less than Randidly had hoped, but he received the evolution of the Skill he wanted plus 100 Stats as a bonus. For now, that was more than enough compensation for the 500 PP he spent on the Path.

Of course, Randidly could only shake his head wryly when he saw the Experimenter IV Path sitting in his Path screen, costing 1250 PP. He had the PP, but he knew that this was all the investment he was willing to make in the mysterious Creator series Skill that he hadn’t had the chance to test yet. Besides, the next price tag was a little rich for his blood. Maybe the next time I obtain a huge amount of PP from my Soulskill I’ll be able to be even less discerning with the ways I spend my PP.

Then his focus shifted to the next decision: between Ashes of Ulaat, Perfect Soul Bond, and Physique of the Grim Chimera which was the best Path to improve his current power? If the Experimenter Path was an investment in the future, these three Paths were all culminations of moves he made in the past. All three seemed likely to give him various advantages moving forward.

Perfect Soulbond would improve his synchronicity with Neveah, which definitely would not lead a bad result. Ulaat’s ashes would likely put him through a trial that would familiarize Randidly with Ulaat’s strength and images. The Ashes of Aemont had been instrumental in obtaining Breath of the Spear Phantom. And Physique of the Grim Chimera seemed like another way that Randidly could give himself increased physical prowess, and use him Grim Chimera images more fully.

Randidly looked down at his hand with a frown. Especially after that final move I used against Paolo and Kayle, it seems like there is something fishy hidden within the makeup of this image. Maybe I put it there, but if it was a portion of an older image that I used to form the Grim Chimera… I cannot be too careful.

But it’s unclear whether working on the physique lowers that danger or exacerbates it.

All three also had obvious downsides: improving the bond with Neveah might mean that more Skills would be subverted like his Riders had been, immediately going to her aid if she needed it. Ashes of Ulaat probably would involve some sort of trail that he would pass, which would consume a portion of Randidly’s valuable time. Meanwhile, the Physique of the Grim Chimera would only benefit his physical fitness and his one image, when Randidly planned to use this time to mainly work on the Yggdrasil Skillset.

Ultimately, the sound of someone approaching pulled Randidly’s attention upward before he could make a decision. LIke a ghost, Helen landed in the clearing and gave Randidly a speculative look. “Do you have any more of those fruits?”