Chapter 1020 (1/2)

For Randidly, the traveling across Zone 1 was the most obnoxious part of the process. And the most time-consuming. He obviously could beat the Manatech rails in a contest of speed, but he wasn’t so much faster than them that it still didn’t take forty-five minutes for him to make the trek to his destination.

Thank god for Aether Detection, Randidly reflected as he sent out a questing pulse of Aether and located his goal. Otherwise, I would just be wandering around in Zone 1’s heartlands… Not exactly the most efficient way to spend my time.

Donnyton had proven that teleportation was possible, but most Villages weren’t raking in the same amount of points for monsters killed as Donnyton was. Therefore, most people preferred to rely on Manatech rails as a way to get around. Because of how relatively small the edges of New Earth was, it was a perfectly efficient decision for the current geography.

And it also didn’t afflict the sensitive with acute motion sickness. For the average person, teleportation was a little bit extreme for their constitution.

Of course, Randidly knew that the real reason that teleportation didn’t take off across all of the Zones was that the option that would make the most logistical sense was to create a hub city for teleportation. All you had to do was have a bunch of cities make teleportation glyphs from their city to some central city. And then if you wanted to go somewhere else, you could simply teleport from the central hub to your true destination.

But none of the political entities were unaware of the value inherent in being the central hub of the network. Which would be defrayed by the exponentially growing cost of maintaining so many portals, but likely not enough to mean it wasn’t worth it.

Randidly wasn’t sure of the exact details, but he had heard once from Mrs. Hamilton that teleporting a single person cost about as many points as were earned from killing a Level 40 monster. And as the strength, and therefore the Aether presence, of an individual increased, that cost went up.

Linearly, but it still meant that high-Level individuals were a drain on resources.

Currently, only Donnyton with its far-flung Squads was raking in enough points to not worry about the cost of teleportation. But no other Zone was willing to allow Donnyton to become the hub city, even if Donnyton was willing to assume the majority of the point cost for the operation of the portal. Donnyton already cast a long shadow as it was. Giving it another advantage was not something the other Zones would do easily.

So Randidly loped across the countryside, heading North and East on his trek to repay a long-promised favor. And to ask for another favor in return.

The whole situation stunk of karma, and Randidly did not like it one bit. But at this point, Randidly had no choice but to accept his debts to Ghost.

During his journey, Randidly stuck to the uninhabited areas; he really had no desire to meet any official representation of Zone 1. He made an extremely large detour to avoid the rather heavy patrols surrounding West Providence before arriving at a small valley situated directly between East and West Providence.

Again, thank god for Aether Detection...

Finally, Randidly arrived and looked down at a picturesque valley with a gurgling stream and a copse of trees. It was a perfect area. So perfect that it Randidly didn’t even need Aether Detection; in this world, such untouched areas meant that something powerful was laying in wait below.

It didn’t take long for him to be hailed; even as Randidly was walking down the gentle slope along the stream, a mechanical bird landed on a large rock to his left and opened its mouth. “So, you’ve finally come. You certainly know how to keep me waiting.”

Randidly chuckled with false cheer. This would go easiest if he didn’t reveal how precarious a situation this was. “Ghost, aren’t you an AI? Doesn’t time become meaningless to you once you transcend the human condition.”

The miniature drone took several hops to keep up with Randidly as he walked down toward the bottom of the valley. “Hmph, you humor remains as haphazard as ever. Although I am casually referred to as artificial intelligence and I truly possess capabilities beyond any single individual, what I truly am is an approximation of artificial intelligence running through several biological brains.

“I was created, but as humans were used as my building blocks, it is hard to say whether my maker truly created intelligent life from nothing or whether he simply did a very poor job of killing the original six bodies that compose me.”

“And your humor is as dark as always,” Randidly responded wryly. It was getting easier to relax. Walking into the copse of trees at the center of the valley, Randidly’s long limbs swung with the casual ease of a sprinter walking toward the starting line. The comparison in his head immediately made Randidly wince, but he turned that motion into a headshake as he passed amongst the tree branches.

Although he didn’t want to carelessly use Infinite Fingers of Yggdrasil and cause the area to burn to the ground, his Skill still gave him an almost immediate understanding of the presence and shape of plant matter. There were no surprises as he passed through the outer layer, and soon Randidly arrived at the inner sanctum of Ghost.

Not a leaf had been disturbed by his passage. Randidly’s eyes flicked sideways to the fluttering small bird. Now that he considered it, he pegged it to have been modeled after a sparrow. “How did you manage to get out from underneath their thumb? Based on the patrols they the have in the area, I would assume they still believe they can keep you under lock and key. It must be reassuring to have such zealous protectors.”

The mechanical sparrow did its best approximation of a chuckle. “They might believe that they can bind me with laws and by carefully observing I have access to, but they are ultimately human. My eyes and hands are everywhere, while their attention is not. It took a while to shave off small portions of metal during my experiments without arousing suspicion, but I was able to create a small drone with some of the Engraving methods you pioneered as a power source. Truly, you have been a lifesaver Then it was just a matter of digging a tunnel so my vulnerable body could escape.”

“Heh, that’s what they get for underestimating you…” Randidly said slowly. His gaze shifted forward. “...and consider the Engraving an unwitting gift from me to you. With the System, the substance can also be the medium for meaning. I was just exploring the bounds of what was possible.”

Does Ghost understand the delicate threads at play here…? Randidly wondered. Certainly, he would have an eye for detail, but how well is his existence prepared for karmic connections…?