Chapter 1101 (2/2)

Unfortunately, it didn’t immediately disintegrate the lock, but the damage was obvious. In that brief few seconds where his dense strand of Nether continued to burn away at the lock, it likely was three times more effective than any of the Nether that Randidly had tried previously, even with the help of his false cores.

Of course, the Nether strand was also depleted in four seconds. Before Randidly attempted such a thing again, he planned on stockpiling quite a bit of the stuff.

With this new tool, Randidly’s days entered into a new, variable cycle. Because Randidly now had to make several hard decisions on how to spend his Nether. He still continued training in the mornings, but his days were now divided between spending Nether to create additional pseudo-cores, refining Nether into the dense Nether strands, and actually using the Nether he possessed to reduce the Aether of the ivory lock and the surrounding area.

Ultimately, Randidly decided that while it would hurt him in the short term, he would focus on the first option of pseudo-core genesis in order to create a second true Nether core and speed up the refinement process. Unfortunately, the false Nether cores were somewhat haphazard to make.

Once the false core had been given shape and was started, it was an easy thing to supply enough energy to finish the thing. But his early attempts at setting the shape of the pseudo-cores ended with no results. Randidly was sorely tempted to give up, but he knew that being hasty was the wrong decision. Even with his most optimistic projections after seeing the Nether strands, it would take him perhaps another 6 more months to accomplish his goal.

Six months of real-world time. For him, it would feel like a year and a half.

Which was five months faster than expected, so it was not a small thing. Plus, Nether might attack in that last month of his stay and accelerate the timetable even further. So he could afford to waste a few days seeking that shape for the false cores. And then, even when days turned to weeks, Randidly refused to give it up.

Meanwhile, Randidly continued to use Nether Ritual to watch Vualla. He saw her training underneath Cail, enduring that fuck’s constant attempts to undermine her confidence and her relationship with Randidly. He saw her internal struggle as another huge Nether attack arrived at the frontlines, concentrating its fire on her father’s camp.

Randidly also used a few days to check on Yggdrasil and Lady Iellaya, but both seemed relatively inactive. Despite Lord Miln’s rather ambiguous offer of assistance to Lady Iellaya if she sent Yggdrasil to his death, she was not acting. Randidly didn’t trust Lady Iellaya overmuch, but he wouldn’t forget her restraint on this point.

Of course, most of Randidly’s focus was on Vualla.

Vualla wanted to help the individuals being attacked by the huge Nether assault, but she also knew that she was still not yet enough to make a large difference. Her father continued to suffer as the Commander on the flank, and she could do nothing.

Randidly also saw how effective Cail’s training was at strengthening her abilities. Vualla’s image was intensifying, even as Cail stressed all the destructive and dangerous parts of Vualla’s image.

Randidly watched as Vualla snuck out of Terith’s camp and stood on the spot where Randidly and Vualla had first encountered each other. She looked resolutely up at the sky and Randidly knew that she was wishing for a moon.

“I… can feel you, you know,” Vualla said.

Randidly, a dimension away and surrounded by Nether, blinked in shock.

“Maybe it’s just my imagination… but ever since the visit to the headquarters… it’s like I can feel your warmth.” Vualla hand went to her collarbone. “Do you… do you feel me too? Can you hear my voice?”

I can hear, The Grim Chimera’s eyes blazed as he looked down at Vualla.

Shaking her head with a small smile, Vualla continued. “Do you see the struggle? Should I stay and train, seeking the power to change something… or should I go help now, even knowing that I don’t yet have the power to change something? For how long should I sequester myself and focus on growing my power?”

Randidly looked sadly down at Vualla. That was a question he couldn’t answer. Perhaps it was one that Randidly had struggled with unconsciously, over and over, since his arrival in the System. There were so many times that he had regretted not acting to protect the people he could protect. Those memories were heavy with regret. But also, there were times where he was able to protect another… and that was only because of the focus he had put toward strengthening himself in the past. It was an unending balancing act.

As a storm of indecision brewed inside Randidly’s heart, Vualla suddenly laughed. “Well, I used to wonder about that… but you know… after meeting you…”

Vualla raised her heavy gauntlet and looked at it. Then she slowly reached over with the other hand and loosened a buckle. The heavy gauntlet crashed to the ground while Vualla also removed a thin under-glove and dropped that on top of heavy gauntlet.

It wasn’t like Randidly didn’t assume she had normal hands underneath the gauntlet, but it was still exceedingly strange to see her like that. He had grown so used to her oversized hands that it now felt strange to see her human fingers and knuckles. Vualla’s gaze turned upward to the sky and she reached her bare hand as though hoping to put apart the sky and reveal the coy moon waiting beyond.

“But you know… it isn’t just capability we are training.” Vualla announced. “We also need to train our desire. Our desire to stay involved. Our desire to protect. Our desire to be connected… because if we lose those things, how valuable is power? Which is why I need to go to try and help. Despite the danger.”

Randidly nodded, although she couldn't see him. But he knew somehow that their connection was enough for that understand to pass between them. Or maybe Randidly just hoped that was the case. Then, with a deep sadness, Randidly closed the Nether Ritual.

Not that he no longer wanted to watch, but he felt… guilty. He had already shown his support for her. And just like Vualla said, sometimes you needed to cultivate your empathy so all you sacrificed for power was worth it.

So this time, when Randidly activated Nether Ritual, he chose a different target. It was time to cultivate empathy. His focus had been distracted since losing the main body, but even the Grim Chimera felt he owed a deep debt to the planet that birthed the main body.

The world swirled, and suddenly Randidly looked down at Alana.