Chapter 1022 (1/2)

Nathan chewed on his lip as he removed his hands from Randidly’s shoulders. “Yea, there is definitely some intense damage done to your Class. I’ve never seen anything like it. The fabric of your growth was completely derailed… all the momentum you built up going toward 50 was destroyed. How did this happen again?”

While he waved his hand to dismiss the question, Randidly regarded the slender teenager fondly. Despite the serious content of the discussion, Randidly’s heart warmed to see how serious Nathan was acting. He’s so young. “Don’t worry about the why. What we need to do is figure out a way to fix the issue. By the way, what do you mean by momentum?”

While removing a series of brightly colored gemstones from his leather bag, Nathan spoke to Randidly over his shoulder. “If you’re sure… well, momentum is what I call the sort of image you are developing for your Fate. Like, looking at your Class, you have an insane amount of momentum. Well, had. You probably wouldn’t even need a condensing focus or my help to maintain the perfect shape of your Fate.

“But now… you have the sort of Class that would mean a normal person would just encase themselves in the strange Fate crystal stuff. No shape, no vessel, all bad news. Basically, it's suicidal for you to attempt to condense a Fate like this.”

Randidly mulled that over. Although he wasn’t positive, Randidly had a feeling that image was to Skills what a Fate was to a Class. Facilitated by the System, in order to allow individuals to produce something of value for the war effort, even if the world’s power was insufficient. Therefore, it should be possible to forcibly condense one with his strong images and understanding of Aether constructs. But as Nathan pointed out, the Class was the training wheels.

Having one would make things much easier.

Besides, even if Randidly could condense a satisfactory Fate without the complex and intricate patterns of his Class, he likely wouldn’t receive any of the benefits he would have obtained with an unbroken Class. Specifically, the quality of the Skills that he would receive in the future would take a sharp hit.

Not that Randidly needed more Skills, but it had seemed recently that only a portion of his compound Class had given him Skills. While the darker portions, the two layers to his Class added by the Patron of Ash and the Creature, had been suspiciously dormant.

They had definitely been building to something. And although Randidly had plenty of reasons not to trust either of those individuals, they had both been extremely strong. The weapons they used were quite deadly. Which just meant that it was relatively important that he repair his Class and excavate those powerful implements.

Nathan carefully laid out his seven gemstones on the ground in a circle: emerald, ruby, beryl, sapphire, diamond, amethyst, and onyx. Then he pointed to the space within the circle. “Please move to stand in here.”

Randidly quirked an eyebrow upward but did as he was bid.

Nathan rubbed his hands together. “These are all Level 75 Elemental Foci that I picked up in the East End. You should really visit, Sydney has completely transformed the place. It won’t ever rival Donnyton, but-”

Sydney, Randidly thought sadly. He should go visit her. They had been so close before the System had arrived. And although his feelings for her were complex, things should have… simplified by now. But that made Randidly think of Ace. And thinking of Ace made Randidly think of-

Just like I should remove one tenacious and malignant tumor from eating away at the health of Earth. Dad, what are you doing? Randidly’s jaw clenched. Was Ghost exaggerating, or are you truly leaving a trail of corpses in your wake? So many threats are piling up, but I don’t have time to deal with them individually. Better to focus on making Erickson Steel a mobile resource that can provide assistance where it is necessary.I can’t solve every problem for the Earth…

Yet to leave without doing anything when I have the capability...

But that line of thought just depressed Randidly even further. Perhaps it is for the best that the Judgment is taking me away for a period of time… only by being exposed to these threats can the people here grow...

Noticing the way the corner of Randidly’s mouth dipped downward, Nathan hurriedly continued to speak. “-well, these crystals just make sure some of the energies of the natural world are present to help give an extra push toward a Class that suits you. Most people have matured a lot from when they obtained their original Class, so there might be new options open to them that they couldn’t imagine originally. When I activate my Skill, you should feel some resonance with the different crystals.”

Randidly nodded and rubbed his chin. “So you think its better to try and repair or empower my Class… than just destroying it and starting over.”

Nathan winced. “Well, obviously. Especially with a Class as complex as yours. If you destroy it, even if you manage to rebuild everything exactly the same a few moments later, some of your Skill Levels will suffer. And that’s even setting aside the pain of having your Class destroyed…”

Inwardly, Randidly believed that sort of pain was likely a pittance compared to what he dealt with from exposure to Nether, but he still nodded. “Fine then, reinforcing the Class it is. Are we ready to begin?”

Nathan nodded. “I’m not sure how exactly it will interact with my Skill, but its probably for the best that you conjure your images. It will give us even more guidance for the reinforcement.”

Randidly wondered what sort of Skill Nathan was about to use, but he trusted the teenager. Soul Architect was the Class that had been personally crafted for Nathan. Although Randidly might understand Aether and images much better than the teenager, this was Nathan’s realm of expertise. And honestly, Randidly could use all the help he could get. Due to how busy he had been, Randidly hadn’t had the opportunity to dedicate much thought to this rather looming problem of a depleted Class.

Releasing a breath, Randidly opened up his Soulspace. At this point, Randidly didn’t even need to call. His images were steadily developing a very basic sense of self, and a portion of that was a rough understanding of what Randidly desired. Even if his images didn’t always agree with Randidly’s methods, they were aligned with his goals.

So Randidly opened himself up and called. After a second of consideration, the images came spilling out into the world.

The area around them rumbled as the World Tree blinked into shuddering existence only a few meters away. Inwardly, Randidly was glad that they had chosen to do this a fair distance South of Erickson Steel so that they were closer to Lake Apollo than any of the construction zones for the moving city.

The fewer people that look out the window and notice an abrupt addition to the skyline, the better.