Chapter 964 (1/2)

Randidly came back to himself slowly, fully reveling in the sense of peace that was now radiating outward from his Soulspace. Although the damage to his Class was still painful, the harmony amongst his images following his previous actions was palpable. It muted the pain and hastened the recovery.

Now that balance had returned, Randidly could move forward.

It wasn’t so much that the image of the Grim Chimera itself was in any danger of taking over his body, as he had implied to the Grim Chimera when interacting with it. Although images were powerful, Randidly was not under any sort of delusion that his images were currently so powerful that they were tangible enough to actually exist outside of him. That simply was a problem that was thankfully still in his future.

No, the issue was that images relied very heavily on certain perspectives and traits to gather their potency. While Randidly used those images, those traits were magnified in order to strengthen the image. Constantly magnifying those sorts of traits, in this case the feeling of anger and isolation that Randidly carried with him every moment, had consequences for his psyche. As these negative emotions were indulged, it became almost habit to rely upon these traits in real life situations where they were more dangerous than helpful.

And as Randidly had come to Erickson Steel to act as a leader, the Grim Chimera definitely needed to be massaged back to only a small portion of his personality. Although that darkness existed inside of him, that was not all he was.

His interactions these past few days had felt extremely draining and stilted. Even if Randidly wasn’t the most social person in the world, it occurred to him that this might be a deeper problem than just a Donnyton hangover. In order to build this company into the traveling source of value that Randidly imagined, he needed to be able to interact with them directly.

Therefore, it had been time to demonstrate to the Grim Chimera the realities of their relative strengths.

So although Randidly had actually fought against his own image, in a sense, he had really addressed the tight knot of emotions that the Grim Chimera represented in order to relieve some of the tension…

Scratching his head, Randidly couldn’t help but wince. When emotions get tied up in images and metaphors, my sense of self becomes way too confusing...

Anyway, there wasn’t really any need to go into a deep psycho-analysis of himself at the moment. It was enough to accept the fact that pacifying his negative traits exemplified by the Grim Chimera was a victory. However, it had also impressed upon Randidly that rather than continuing to empower Yggdrasil, working on his Ignition Essence might be just as fruitful for his tasks here with Erickson Steel.

Those strange and enlightening emerald flames served as the buffer between his two images, the glue that held his disparate pieces of personality together. If he could strengthen that image, Randidly believed that the other things that he wanted to accomplish with Erickson Steel would be much easier. Perhaps interactions would not be so strained. Plus, being able to manipulate the extremely hot flames would help him immensely in the forging process.

Chuckling to himself, Randidly stood and stretched. But there is only so much time in the day. I can’t simply work on everything. Ignition Essence certainly is a part of me. A strong part. Just hard to know how much I can force that image to grow in the short term.

But it was a possibility that he would consider.

For now, Randidly looked around the room and at the several samples of metals that Mark had provided for him from Erickson Steel’s current production. Frowning, Randidly thought for several seconds about how to test the materials. Then he walked over to the table and peered at the various samples.

From the labeling provided, the metals provided fell into three categories: civilian use, mass-produced, and high-end. Of the categories, most of Erickson Steel’s money came from the sale of high-end materials, because that was the area that they had the biggest advantage.

Randidly spent a small amount of time playing with the mass-produced metals, but he directly skipped the civilian use. He wasn’t very interested in looking at the basic metals made by his company. It was enough that they were competitive, focusing overmuch on basic products seemed like a poor investment. After all, Randidly believed that the quality of their base metal would increase if he could jumpstart innovation at the top end. A complicated refining process could be streamlined and simplified to affect the bottom line in the future.

In industry, if not in economics, progress tended to trickle down into the consumer sphere quite well.

For the mass-produced metals, it quickly became clear that Randidly was physically able to bend the metals with his bare hands. It took some effort and it was slow, but the material was definitely not durable enough for him to bother with it at all. If his grip could warp it, there wasn’t any point in putting the metal under any sort of rigorous testing. Instead, Randidly simply used his Ignition Essence to melt the metal, taking care to note the general temperature where the metal was completely melted.

Finally, Randidly arrived at the high-end products. There were three varieties provided, likely from Erickson Steel’s most skilled craftspeople. Each was a variation on the same theme that Randidly had previously pioneered: a mixture of metal with refined materials from monsters. A theme that seemed to have not been sniffed out by the competition.

Which likely has made people focus too much on the bones, Randidly thought with a sigh as he considered the examples. When they really needed to work on their own basic Skills...

One bar of metal appeared closer to a crystal than a true metal. Another seemed as dense and heavy as lead. The third was covered by a very general engraving, and there was an included note that stated that the engraving was impressed upon the metal while it was still in liquid form to aid in its resilience.

That, at least, was something that piqued his interest. Randidly wondered how the individual was able to affix the engraving in liquid metal. Maybe a special processing area?

For reference, Randidly produced a single bar of the metal that he had made in order to construct his metallic left arm. Then he proceeded to test each one.