Chapter 964 (2/2)
It took five minutes for Randidly to throw his hands up in the air. He glared at Acri. “Would you stop being so sharp?!? How am I supposed to judge the differences if you can just easily cut through them all?!?”
Acri looked relatively chagrined, shaking its head sadly at its master’s disappointment. It was clear that the spear felt very guilty about it, so Randidly regarded Acri with suspicion. Through their connection, Acri sent Randidly a stream of information in an attempt to explain.
As it turned out, it had an epiphany in the fight against Donnyton. After that evolution, it was able to steal experience directly from victims it attacked without needing to kill them. Therefore, it had greedily devoured quite a bit of experience from the people of Donnyton who dared challenge Randidly. There were, however, strange limits that Acri could not understand. People possessed varying amounts of experience that it could steal, although this amount was not related to that person’s strength.
...Perhaps Acri can take experience, but not reduce someone’s Level… Randidly thought in awe, looking at this innocuous looking branch/snake/spear. It wiggled guilty under his fierce observation. Then Randidly couldn’t help but release a low giggle. I can imagine some Squader’s horror when an entire Level’s worth of experience disappeared in the fight against me… They certainly won’t be willing to attempt that again anytime soon. I suppose I’ll just consider it my payment for teaching them so thoroughly about images.
Acri continued to wait for Randidly’s judgment, hoping he would agree that it wasn’t at fault for being sharper than this metal. Randidly glanced at his own bar. Acri had left a deep gash from a single slash, but it had only pierced about one-fourth of the way through the metal. As for the others… they had been completely sliced in half. The sliced portions were so glossy and smooth that they sparkled.
Randidly considered melting them as well, but he shook his head. Waving airly, he gestured in a manner that conveyed that he was relieving Acri of all responsibility. The spear gleefully curled around his waist. Then Randidly turned to the sliced metals.
This is just a waste of time, Randidly finally decided. He had come to see if there had been any interesting innovations, but it seemed like there was just the process of putting an engraving in the liquid metal. And from what Randidly could tell from his basic test, the benefit was extremely small. So small to make it indistinguishable from the uninteresting methods used by the other smelters to make their own signature metal.
With a shake of his head, Randidly turned his attention back inward to his Path screen. The memory of that strange being within the vast crystal caused him to freeze for a second, but a surge of resolve emerged within his chest. I won’t reach that Level of ability by cowering fear. I need to advance. After working on my forging process, it might be worth it to hole up in a Dungeon for a while… the Judgement can definitely arrive in a Dungeon, but since it is based on a dwindling time, is that time my time or the world’s time? I’ll have to test it…
...if I can delay by spending time in a Dungeon…
When Randidly attempted to pour PP into his Growth of Yggdrasil Path, he received a notification that made him want to pull out his hair.
Growth of Yggdrasil III is not yet ready! Please germinate for an additional 27 days, then the Path will be prepared.
“Fuck me,” Randidly muttered. When he had checked earlier, he had sensed that raising his Stats would open up his Path. But now that he examined the feeling more carefully and translated the constructs of Aether, it seemed that increasing his Stats would only lower the amount of time that Randidly needed to wait. It wouldn’t rid the Path of its gestation period altogether.
“So now…” Randidly looked bitterly at his Path screen. “Do I save this thirteen hundred PP for 27 days from now, or do I get another one of those 1000 PP Paths…?”
Ultimately, Randidly swore quietly several more times and walked the circuit of the room for several minutes. When no obvious answer manifested itself, Randidly walked out of the small room without making a decision. Spending time simply sitting around and considering right now felt like a waste of time. It was enough to now know that the decision was one that he needed to make. Although the Judgement was coming, it wasn’t coming suddenly.
Randidly’s attention again shifted inward. Rather than his Soulspace, he examined the constructs of Aether that the System had constructed around him, including the probe left by Octavius Shrike and the looming Judgement. After a brief examination, Randidly could feel that his actions thus far shifted the timeline up. In three or four weeks, the Judgement would come.
Like Lyra’s proposal, the issue of whether to use the PP immediately would be put on the back-burner while he focused on other issues. Hopefully, clarity would come from giving himself some space and perspective on the question.
Mark jumped to his feet when Randidly walked out of the room. “Mr. Ghosthound! Have you finished already? It has only been about twenty minutes-”
“Yep,” Randidly said lightly, although he inwardly cursed the fact he hadn’t thought to check his Absolute Timing before blandly walking out. Part of his haste was because he had mistakenly been under the impression his fight against the Grim Chimera had taken quite a while. “Thanks for the help. Is there a room where I can work on some forging?”
“Ah! Yes, everything is prepared.” Mark bowed. “You will not be disturbed while you work. I have personally arranged the details. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.”
Those words gave Randidly pause. Not because this man was obviously a leech-like being worthy of disdain, but because it gave him an idea. An idea that caused the blood to immediately drain from his face.
But Randidly gritted his teeth. If you want to be a leader… you need to lead.
“Actually… would there be any way that you could broadcast my forging?”