Chapter 985 (1/2)
Naffur’s face twisted into a frown as the fool Roland lost his cool and unleashed an attack at his full strength. Immediately, he barked out. “Ajax!”
“On it,” the giant cockroach man buzzed as his wings carried him down from the viewing platform to the arena below. Naffur had been aware that Roland dearly wanted to be a part of the Order Ducis since the man had seen the Fate that Ajax and Madelyn had been able to condense with Nathan’s help. Naffur just hadn’t realized how deep the man’s greed went.
Inwardly, Naffur felt an incredible amount of anxiety at the moment. If this talented woman was seriously injured or even killed now, he wouldn’t be able to deny that it was his fault. Despite knowing Roland was an unstable element, Naffur had allowed them to fight. He had seen Vye’s unwavering will in her brilliant yellow eyes and had to admire her bravery.
Under the influence of his second aspect, the Aspect of the Wandering Knight, Naffur’s gaze remained passive. He was the face of the Order Ducis and had been for several months. He could not let this throw him, no matter how unfortunate the outcome was.
That was the heavy weight that Randidly had given him to bear.
“With these hands…!” The woman, Vye, bellowed. More quickly than even Naffur would have been able to mimic, her hands surged into motion. Right before the Ion Bolt and light beams arrived at her, her left hand was glowing with a piercing brightness. Without protecting her torso at all, Vye swung her gleaming hand in a vicious cut toward the Ion Bolt.
Naffur’s eyes twitched. For a second, around her…
But there was too much light, so it was hard to confirm. The attacks crashed into each other and after only a brief pause Vye was smashed backward. Ajax arrived just at that moment, his one hand steadying Vye while his other hand struck out and ripped apart the beams of light that pursued Vye.
Naffur was gratified to notice that whatever Vye had done, it had dispersed the Ion Bolt totally. Even if she was knocked unconscious by the effort, it was not a small thing.
Coughing lightly, Naffur said. “Ahem. Congratulations, Roland. It appears you won the final duel of this year’s lottery. Thank you so much for your hard work.”
Roland’s face was extremely pale as he looked numbly at the crumpled and bleeding form of Vye that Ajax brought up toward the waiting Nathan. “Sir Knight-Errant, I-”
“No need to speak,” Naffur hissed. “I believe we have all seen enough.”
Flushed with stymied ambition, Roland’s mouth moved wordlessly for several seconds before he simply nodded and walked off of the central arena. Two men with mops moved up onto the broken ground and began to wash away both of the contestants’ blood.
*****
While Randidly was in the Dungeon, he intermittently visited the Alpha Cosmos to track of the developments within his Soulskill. Because it was now based exactly on the time he experienced, the Soulskill would also go through a one year jump before he returned to Earth.
Which basically didn’t matter much to anyone but Helen, who would benefit from Randidly’s increased understanding of the connection between his body and the Alpha Cosmos. As he spent more time with it active, the bonds that limited her power would gradually loosen. Which honestly, gave Randidly a headache.
It was too easy to imagine Helen growing bored and making trouble around Erickson Steel. It was better to immerse himself in his Soulskill and do his best not to think about it.
The Monster Prince’s interim government continued to integrate with the nearby kingdom to avoid an all-out war between the new arrivals and the original inhabitants of this strange continent. It seemed that things would proceed peacefully for now, but Randidly didn’t want to be blindsided as he had in the past; once a week, Randidly would head into the Alpha Cosmos to have a discussion with Lucretia.
While he was there, he would also check in on the progress of the youth from the Willow Tree Spear Style. Honestly, Randidly was endlessly impressed by his determination. Despite the grueling series of tasks that Lucretia had set for him, he stubbornly continued to Engrave past the point where he had a sufficient amount of Mana to accomplish the task. It was somewhat endearing so see him so feeble that he could only stagger away from a test, unsuccessful and exhausted.
Randidly sighed inwardly. I suppose it's unrealistic to think that Shal’s brutal training methods wouldn’t rub off on me...
Lucretia and Randidly sat in rocking chairs on Lucretia’s engraving complex while they watched the kid struggle. The tall shadow of Lucretia’s ranch style home rose behind them. Randidly’s fingers danced across the wicker arms of the chair idly, looking over the problems that Lucretia had set for her apprentices. Only after he had solved them all to his own satisfaction did Randidly turn to Lucretia. “Anything worth reporting?”
“Nothing over in the political sphere, but I’ve continued to investigate the lighthouses present in the wider continent, per your request.” Lucretia took a long sip of a drink made from the pulp of the sanu, a sour fruit indigenous to the area that tasted kinda like pomegranate. She licked her lips in satisfaction and tilted her head toward the pitcher in askance.
Randidly shook his head. “None for me, thanks. So, what did you find?”
“Although the lighthouses existed before, the didn’t work in a straightforward manner; most people couldn’t get a Class from them.” Lucretia frowned down at the red-violet drink. “To them, the arrival of the refugees from your previous Soulskill and from Tellus is less a cause of what happened than a symptom of a larger change in the world. There are some religious organizations here that predict a time of judgment is approaching-”
“Quite accurate, actually,” Randidly muttered.
Lucretia had spent enough time with Randidly not to be dragged into his asides. “-but the larger point was that the mainland doesn’t have as much of an advantage as we thought when it comes to fighting strength. A few, exceptional individuals had previously been able to activate the lighthouses at great cost, but by and large, the Levels of our two groups are comparable. There are just about ten times as many of them.”