Chapter 1228 (2/2)

“Cool,” Randidly said lightly. Then he pulled the Philosopher’s Key from his belt and pushed it forward. When he found the line of karma that led to the Earth, Randidly turned the key and opened a hanging portal in the air in front of him.

Congratulations! Your Fate the Philosopher’s Key has grown to Level 91!

Getting close to a hundred… I wonder what sort of item I’ll get next… Then Randidly’s lips twisted. Still, these last nine Levels will probably be the most difficult… Also, I wonder how long it takes most people to finish Leveling their Fate up to 100…?

In case there was currently someone from the Xyrt Brigade keeping track of Randidly’s position, he didn’t dare step through the portal. So instead, he stood right at the edge and allowed his Grim Intuition to flow outward into the surrounding area on the Earth-side. He felt the activity of the Order Ducis suppressing Raid Bosses and a small village nearby. Randidly also felt the swirling activity around Kharon.

As he had sensed in the Eidolon Crucible about a week ago, it appeared that the number of people present in Kharon had almost doubled since Kharon had begun its journey. The moving city seemed to be functioning at something close to its maximum population capacity. For whatever reason, there had been a large influx of people into Kharon recently. This caused Randidly to frown slightly because his directives he had left for Tatiana were exactly to avoid this kind of thing. Due precisely to the worry that the image would waver when too many new people were mixed into the population at once.

Still, Randidly trusted Tatiana enough that he didn’t bother to find out right now what had happened to cause this; he would hear the reason in a few weeks when he returned to Earth. Instead, he simply let his Grim Intuition spread out and tasted the image that was present above the moving city animated by his living Engraving.

Randidly closed his eyes and felt the effect his Eidolon Crucible had on correcting the image of Kharon.

The hesitation was still there but Randidly was able to sense more details of the situation. There had been a loss recently. Well, not a loss. But something that had made all of Kharon acknowledge the ugly truth that even with all of their capability, it wasn’t enough. So after building itself up that image of success in the hearts of the people of Kharon, they had failed and been devastated by that.

Randidly knew that sorrow and sense of helplessness intimately. He struggled against it himself in the previous battle between Ileot Swacc and the Nether King. But after the Eidolon Crucible, he felt the thoughts of the people of Kharon slowly shifting.

...So what if we failed? We are not proud because we always succeed. No, the reason we are proud is because of the work we’ve put into bettering our world. Regardless of the result, the effort will not go to waste as long as we keep trying.

‘We aren’t doing enough’ is never a reason to cease our activities. It’s the reminder we need to reinforce our resolve.

Releasing a breath, Randidly stood to the side and allowed Heiffal and the other duplicated individuals who agreed to follow Randidly walk through to Earth. Afterward, he calmly closed the portal and returned to his tent.

In the days before his vacation would begin, Randidly divided his time between training with the new versions of Acri and Sulfur, working on his images, and understanding his Fate. Time quickly passed as he busied himself. As he expected, through two weeks of dedicated work Randidly only received one more Level to his Fate, bringing him to 92.

But after one of the days of training his image, Randidly sensed two individuals approach to his tent. So he released the handful of his Ignition Essence that he cradled in his hand and walked to the door to the tent to look out.

He wasn’t surprised to see the wistful faces of Nadia and Kailm when he left his tent. They greeted him politely, but it was clear that what led the couple here was not the desire to converse with Randidly, but rather because they were drawn here by the familiar remnants of Illym that now suffused Randidly’s Ignition Essence image.

Very quickly, the couple turned to go, but some trace of bitterness in Randidly’s heart compelled him to vocalize a question that had been bothering him for a while. “Nadia, Kailm… if you don’t mind me asking… why didn’t you use the liquid Aether of the Fate armory to help defend the front line?”

The two exchanged a glance, then Kailm slowly spoke. “Two reasons. The first is more selfish, I suppose. Using liquid Aether that someone else refined can be… dangerous. The image inside of the liquid Aether, if it's sufficiently different from your own, will warp your Skills and images. It’s akin to starting a fire in the middle of your living room to try and warm the house; it will work, but there will consequences depending on whether your home was designed for such a thing.

“And secondly…” Kailm glanced at Nadia. His wife looked at Kailm with tired eyes. “...secondly, we might be able to manipulate the liquid Aether, but it does not belong to us; it comes directly from the Nexus. And in the Nexus’ eyes… that liquid Aether is more valuable than all our lives put together. Being the caretaker of the Aether now is a result of us going deep in the Nexus’ debt as we tried to… help our daughters. We are bound to protect the Aether even at the cost of our lives.”

“Wasn’t the Fate armory almost destroyed?” Randidly asked in confusion.

Finally, Nadia spoke. “Nether Kings are frightful, but they are nothing compared to the Nexus that designed this System. Never forget that, Randidly Ghosthound. Please, protect the remnants of our daughter.”