Chapter 1124 (1/2)

One fact that immediately jumped out to Randidly was the fact that Nether Beasts counted toward experience. A significant amount of it. Which put into question some of Randidly’s theories about how experienced was gathered.

Killing them today on the battlefield with Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil had earned him enough experience to grow to Level 48, and then 49, before stopping halfway to 50. And considering the sharply increasing experience requirements to reach 50, it was clear that he had gained a huge amount of experience in a very short amount of time. Most of it was probably gobbled up by the half Level toward 50.

In addition, as was indicated by the notification that Randidly received as he repaired his Class, Level 48 had given him no bonuses. All of those were used up in order to repair the damage to Randidly’s ‘prayer’ that had resulted from that brief moment of the attention of that being seeking the Creature. But the Level up gains for 49 were as they should be, so at least the brief damage was repaired now.

With the knowledge that Randidly had gained from his extended use of Nether Rituals, Randidly made use of the return walk to examine his Class with an even more exacting gaze. But it seemed to him that his previous efforts weren’t in vain; the ritual had been prepared. Once more the core desire of his Class had been restored. All that remained was to see it to the end.

Which, in the System’s eyes, meant condensing a Fate.

But of course, there were quite a few things to do before then.

When he finally made it back to his tent, having been left in the dust by the shocked Lady Iellaya and Abiodun, the first thing Randidly Ghosthound did was set Vualla gently down on the ground and gaze meaningfully at her. With a trembling hand, he did his best to corral the mass of her azure hair.

Then he shook his head and turned away. This is a problem for another day. For now…

Randidly’s Perception turned inward. At the core of him, where an Aether Crossroads still calmly flowed, four cores of Nether spun slowly around the Aether Crossroads. Where there should be violent rejection, there was just calm contentment. The Aether animated the communication and synchronicity between the cores, and the Nether added weight and balance to the crossroads.

Even now, looking at it and sensing the strange symmetry and balance of the arrangement, Randidly was thrown. Although the evidence was clearly before him, it was difficult him to currently understand what was going on. It was like showing algebra to a child. You could believe it worked from seeing it work, but there was no true understanding.

But that was also an issue for another day. So Randidly moved forward with his Perception; the balance between Aether and Nether was interesting, but not why he came.

Deep within the four swirling cores was another small pseudo-core, made not to hold Nether, but to hold image. And Randidly quickly popped it and gritted his teeth. When the core was shattered, what was held within quickly exploded outward. Trembling, Randidly fell to his knees as the strange sensation rocked him.

And then there they were, Salazar and Zauna, blinking and disoriented.

“We are b-b-back!” Salazar exclaimed excitedly. “The p-place that you p-put us was a b-b-bit-”

“It was the best I could do on short notice,” Randidly said quickly to cut off Salazar before he could work up a head of steam. “And honestly, I’m exhausted from it. Please, give me some peace to recover.”

While both nodded shortly after a brief hesitation, Salazar seeming extremely disappointed by Randidly’s brusque response. Yet it escaped neither of their eyes that Randidly had reclaimed his body since they had seen him last. And it didn’t escape Randidly’s notice that Zauna was looking at him with eyes that were burning with questions.

Perhaps due to his change in status now that he had recovered his body, both listened when he looked pointedly toward the door. They filed out, casting slow glances over their shoulders as though they expected Randidly to change his mind halfway, seeing the pitiful state of their departing forms. But Randidly just stared forward with his mouth in a thin line.

What he had to do next, he wanted to do alone.

Although maybe the reason they are listening to me now was because they are afraid of me, Randidly thought rather sadly. It wasn’t exactly me, but the Grim Chimera…but he did leave Zagnal there with the Aether Key so that the Nether forces wouldn’t believe something was wrong when there was a dramatically weaker Aether Key that also possessed no defenses.

But it’s not like I wouldn’t have made the same decision. Randidly shivered at the certainty of the knowledge. My situation in the pod… With those learning restraints… it was only a matter of time before they would have overwhelmed my ability to manipulate Aether. And then… there weren’t just restraints there, those Aether constructs were designed to fish out secrets. Certainly a chilling reception for Heretics here at the front lines…

A decision had to be made, and shortly. And I was in no shape to fight my way through the army of the Nether King… But I sacrificed a life for my own. I cannot deny that. There’s no point, not when this is the Path I’m walking...

Taking a deep breath, Randidly sat next to Vualla and rubbed his thumb along the ring that was still present on his metallic left arm. Rather than dwell on Zagnal, his first priority was preparing for the future. Immediately Randidly grinned because his equipment was all dutifully stored within. Some part of him was somewhat worried that the equipment would have been kept separately from his body, so it was a relief to find it all here.

Randidly carefully removed Acri and Sulfur, both of which cooed happily and wriggled across him. Only when they settled down did Randidly begin to remove his other equipment from the ring.

His White Steel Greeves. Iradak’s Tinglesilk Gloves. Sun’s Teardrop Belt. The Ancestral Circlet of the Broken Ridge. Piece by piece, Randidly slid the equipment back onto him. Although he hadn’t gotten the chance to wear this equipment for long, it was still his equipment. Wearing it was part of who Randidly Ghosthound was.

Finally, Randidly produced Chulroon’s Chisel and the fingerless leather glove with a hole in the palm and placed them on the ground in front of him. Hissing his breath out through his nose, Randidly then began to concentrate. After quite an exhausting series of mental conversations, Randidly pulled the hiltless blade out of his image area and laid it on the ground next to the two gloves. It flared up briefly, but Randidly was able to convince the will within to enter into a dormant state.

The weirdest part of the whole process was how abruptly cold Randidly felt after he removed the blade from his chest. Shivering, he leaned forward to stare intently at the three Fates. I’ve gotten more reliant on the blade’s energy than I thought… But it might be time to think about how to use these Fates for my own benefits. If each one forms the core of one of my images to help me condense my own Fate…