Chapter 961 (2/2)

Error! Recalculating-

WARNING! Interference detected-

I’ve finally found you, Yystrix. My one and only love. Wait for me.

Even as the confusing notifications continued to pop up before him, the rest of Randidly’s vision was casually wiped away. Instead of the noisy and jovial atmosphere at the Erickson Steel cafeteria, Randidly found himself standing below an enormous translucent crystal continent and was flanked by obsidian spikes. The crystal itself was so large that Randidly’s entire vision was filled with it. As he quickly scanned left and right, he couldn’t see the edge of it; it was like standing in front of a giant crystal wall.

Yet somehow, he knew there was an edge to it. It was a truth of this place. This was not an eternal being, only a vast and powerful one.

To his left and right were enormous mountains of obsidian that seemed to be acting as a natural barrier around the crystal. But as his scrambling mind caught up with him, Randidly paled further as he looked at these mountains.

They weren’t made of obsidian… in fact, Randidly saw a flash of copper when he focused his Perception as much as it could upon the mountains. Instead, they were simply covered with an extremely dense web of writing.

Engravings that sucked light away, rather than producing it.

Crack.

Although the sound was that of a crack being made, it felt more like someone reached and casually ripped a piece of paper. A rift opened in the crystal. Hair-thin and filled with a deep darkness, it ran from bottom to top of the crystal continent, as far as Randidly could see.

At this point, Randidly was all strained nerves as he struggled to understand what was happening. So his gaze instantly jumped to that thin crack that appeared in the crystal. Around him, the mountains began to hum and produce an even thicker veil of blackness that spiraled upward around them, but before it could spread and smother him, Randidly saw something.

It wasn’t anything specific, it was just something stirring. A small movement deep within the rend created in the crystal, something so far away that Randidly’s Perception couldn’t reach it. Something old and vicious waking up. As it moved, its attention focused on Randidly.

Something akin to a physical force hit Randidly in his Soulspace, eventually impacting his Class directly as it ripped through him. The carefully constructed structure of Aether buckled and cracked underneath the sudden force. For several seconds, Randidly couldn’t breathe.

Rather than being hit with a cudgel, it suddenly seemed that this strange being had reached out and was now gripping him within a tight fist. The pressure was so much that some of his Skills shivered in protest. But the weight was too vast and heavy. Randidly’s images couldn’t even gather themselves to move.

Everything was casually smothered.

Then, just as quickly as it came, the feeling was gone. Randidly’s Aether Detection was barely able to sense that weight quickly departing, following the line of one of Randidly’s karmic connections. Toward someone else.

There was a split second where Randidly was able to dazedly intuit that this thin karmic line, so thin that he hadn’t even been able to sense it previously, was a karmic line that led to the Creature.

But at that point, the pain of having his Class partially shattered hit.

Biting down on his lip, Randidly barely suppressed the urge to scream. What hit him then was a pain that he hadn’t felt since his Skill was reduced to cracked pieces by Aegiant’s Skill incarnation. It was an existential sort of helpless agony, starting from his inner world and spreading outward to his physical body. It came in pumping waves, washes of crimson agony that splashed against his psyche with unending determination.

Unfortunately, Randidly noticed too late that his hands were spasming. While gritting his teeth, Randidly pulled his trembling hands away from the metal mess table, leaving ten holes and two hand-shaped impressions on the table.

Just as the fifth wave of agony came from his Skill, something changed. His Soulskill began to hum, sending a wave of warm energy outward to counteract the pain. It was not enough to overwhelm it completely, but it certainly took the paralyzing edge off of the agony. Once the worst of the pain was gone, the energy spiraled into cones that began to carefully nurse his Class back to health.

At which point Randidly realized that he was receiving notifications agony.

-ning!

Recalculating...resuming display…

Congratulations! All Stats +50. You and your Soulbound companion have gained the Skill Soulbound Doppelganger (L) Lvl 1!

Soulbound Doppelganger (L): Create a projection of your Soulbound partner. The Doppelganger will possess all of your partner’s Skills, and a portion of their stats. Effect increases with Skill Level. Periodically, it is possible to possess the doppelganger of yourself, vastly improving its power. Cooldown decreases with Skill Level. Current Cooldown: 170 hours.

Well, at least I got some Stats. Randidly thought bitterly. His Soulspace throbbed painfully, even while his Soulskill provided more energy to heal the damage done to his Class. It seemed it would take a bit of time before it recovered.

But… what the hell was that?