Chapter 1179 (2/2)

His words didn’t even echo in the darkness. Around him, Randidly could feel the strange construction of karma being spun as he moved forward. Yet his senses couldn’t detect much. He would need to use the Philosopher’s Key to feel the finer points of the karma, but he was still too mentally exhausted to attempt to wield that tool.

So Randidly continued to jog. After what felt like six hours, he emerged from the tunnel and looked up at a mountain proper. He followed the winding path to the sign and then took the longer path route. This time he had to walk down the gentle slope of the valley and the wade across a sluggish river before he found the tunnel.

This tunnel was suitably large, more like one million great halls lined up in a row than a tunnel proper. There were vaulted ceilings that Randidly could only barely witness and high stone pillars that led him continually deeper through the bowels of the mountain.

So Randidly pondered the image in his Philosopher’s Key and jogged. At some point, he became somewhat fed up and accelerated into a dash, but that didn’t last very long. Or at least, in the space of this place, it didn’t last long. Perhaps he ended up dashing for six hours, but it really didn’t feel like his speed affected his traveling speed. Which obviously was impossible.

But it felt like it was the case.

So he returned to a jog.

At the mouth of this tunnel, with his Absolute TIming informing him that he had spent two days jogging to traverse the distance, Randidly looked up at a mountain that ripped upward through the clouds like the spine of the largest dragon in the world. It was a ruggedly beautiful mountain, all jagged peaks and tantalizing mists. It was the sort of mountain that stirred up a deep urge to climb upward and witness the world above the sky.

“Probably a bitch to scale though,” Randidly muttered to himself. So he turned away from the mountain and took the left path again. Yet as he did so, he paused.

This time the sign was different. This time, the left was labeled ‘the longest path’.

“About damn time,” Randidly sighed. Then he broke out into a jog once more and followed the meandering slope of the mountain around until he reached a ravine. There he had to walk directly up the dried riverbed, clambering over boulders, until he found a dusty mountain trail. That trail led around the side of the mountain… to a tunnel.

So Randidly entered the darkness once more.

This darkness was so complete and vast that Randidly felt like it would be extremely easy to get lost in here. He couldn’t see or sense the walls, roof, or the original entrance he used to arrive at this darkness. Very soon it was just him and the sound of his footfalls once more.

Those noises kept Randidly focused. Time dragged, but he wasn’t impatient. It had been a while, but Randidly had abundant experience with forcing himself to perform tiresome tasks long past when he wanted to stop. If something like this was enough to exhaust him into giving up, Randidly would not have gotten near where he had. Not by a longshot.

Shal would be so proud, Randidly thought sourly as he continued to jog.

A week passed, jogging in the darkness. There were times that Randidly felt like he should alter his strategy, but he kept himself calm. If nothing else, this place would eventually collapse on its own eventually. Hard to know with karma interfering in time when that would be, but it would be a hard escape. So for now, Randidly ran.

Besides, Randidly felt like it was never about finding the right path. It was about making the choice and then following through. As long as he kept moving, his feet were on the right path.

It was a week and 22 hours before Randidly opened up from the tunnel to underneath a stormy sky. Low clouds seemed positively looming as he walked down the path toward the familiar sign. But this time, there was no split. There was just the affirmation once more.

The longest path.

Randidly looked up toward a mountain so large that it was difficult for him to see the sides of it. Its stony face filled up his whole vision like a granite wall along the horizon. It was honestly difficult to imagine how far up into the sky the peak was. And the air around the mountain was heavy with an incredible pressure. One that was even more powerful than the pressure around the hill that Lord Miln and his protege had chosen to ascend. Acri raised his hand and tilted his blade in askance toward Randidly.

Twisting his mouth, Randidly shook his head slightly. “Honestly, this isn’t my image at all; I still think it’s pointless. You too. This is not your path. But you know…” Randidly reached down and lightly tapped Sulfur. “How about you? All you do is wait and endure. Do you think you can inherit some of this power?”

Sulfur shivered in anticipation as Randidly began to steadily walk up the mountain path.