Chapter 1164 (2/2)

“Want me to set up a rickety stand along the supply track and sell glances by the nickel?” Twisting his mouth, Randidly shrugged. “It’s not so easy as that, unfortunately. Making them exhausts me for several hours, for one. And also the fruits don’t benefit me nearly as much; I have to wait a while for their energy to grow much more potent before it’s worth it. Infusing images might help that happen faster, but… Isn’t working on images and Skill Levels more important that Stats?”

Vualla seemed to consider that. “...and also having more Stats doesn’t lead as quickly to growth as having better images or more Skill Levels does. Because it doesn’t help you achieve Paths. If all it would do is help raise up some subordinates. Oh! Maybe you could start a cult, like Lady Iellaya.”

When Randidly snorted in response, Vualla seemed immensely pleased. “Ha! Who knew you really are a support-from-the-sidelines sort of character. You can trip Nether Beasts up with roots and then brew me fresh fruit drinks for when I come back gloriously victorious from battles against Nether Gatekeepers.”

“Didn’t we just talk about how exhausting it would be for me to make those fruits full time?” Randidly rolled his eyes. “And jesus, you have defeated so many Nether Gatekeepers by now, it must be almost boring to fight against them.”

Randidly didn’t miss the split second where Vualla froze and the smile slipped from her face. But just as quickly she recovered herself and smiled prettily at him. “Well, even if it is exhausting, won’t you do it for me?”

“Nope.”

“Alas! My love for citrus goes unfulfilled!” Vualla brought her hand to her forehead and feigned swooning.

Randidly’s smile slowly faded away. Studying Vualla, he wondered if he should ask why she had reacted so strongly to what he had said.

But as if their thoughts were on the same wavelength, she lowered her arm and said more seriously. “...but honestly, it’s still damn hard to fight them. So hard that… that I’m worried I’ll lose next time. That these victories were a fluke. Maybe that’s why… I rushed over here when I gained so many Stats at once. It’s been a while since there has been much of a change to my Stats. And I just thought…”

“That you wanted to see me?” Randidly smiled cheekily.

Vualla threw her hands up in the sky. “Well, obviously that. But-...no, you’re right. It was that the whole time.”

Although his heart was pounding, Randidly forced his feet to move forward until Vualla was only a short distance away. As though this was a rehearsed play, Vualla stood completely still, letting Randidly approach. It was only when Randidly put his trembling fingers on her chin that Vualla moved. She looked up at him and then stood up on her tiptoes, so their lips met again.

It was warm and Randidly didn’t want the moment to end.

Yet they eventually parted, as they always had to. But Randidly did make a mental note that maybe he could condense a couple of fruits for Vualla, to try to give her an extra boost. Yet another part of Randidly knew that Vualla would probably refuse his fruit next time, for the same reason that he hesitated to give her one now.

She would be afraid of becoming reliant on those fruits to grow. She was afraid of being weak and afraid of becoming strong in the wrong ways.

“Bah, you can only joke when you finally manage to kill a Nether Gatekeeper of your own. It’s a bitch.” Vualla brought her heavy gauntlet down on Randidly’s shoulder.

He grinned at her. “What’s worth having is worth working for. Don’t slow down on me now.”

“You either. I’m so far ahead of you already. It’s quite lonely.” Then, waving over her shoulder, Vualla left.

Randidly immediately returned to his image world, where he began to do further work. Already, some of the effects of incorporating the aspects of Levelable Engraving were showing. It was a small percentage of the whole tree, but the more seeds that Randidly planted, the more shapes slowly began to weave their way upwards, heading toward the apex of the World Tree.

The date that Ileot had given Randidly for the opening of the Nether Prince was three days from their conversation, so Randidly planned on using the entirety of that time to sharpen his Yggdrasil image. After that, he could begin the final preparations for condensing a Fate the night before.

So during the small breaks of those days, Randidly would meditate and use Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil to strike at the short Nether patrols that continued to harry the Aether forces. He didn’t rush, but very smoothly his experience reached 99% of the way to Level 50.

Which meant that he could focus more fully on helping Ignition Essence burn through the last tight knot of memories, and create more shapes across Yggdrasil for the Akashic.

Not that Randidly had known for sure that it would end up this way, but it was soon becoming clear that both would finish in time for Randidly to work prior to the invitation to slip into the Nether Prince. Which meant that Randidly had a decision to make: which of the two foci should be his first priority…?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Randidly chose Yggdrasil. The shapes sprawled across the myriad branches were now spiraling upward through the trunk and mixing together in unpredictable ways, meaning that something was building to a climax.

Besides, Randidly still didn’t fully trust the memories of the hiltless blade. So if Randidly could improve his own power by working on Yggdrasil first, so much the better.

With that in mind, Randidly once more brought up his Path screen and prepared to part with a significant chunk of PP.