Chapter 1240 (1/2)

So it turns out all I needed to do was think about a key ring...

Randidly tried his best for several seconds not to be insulted, but some very bitter thoughts bubbled up to the surface of his mind despite his best efforts. I suppose the Philosopher’s Key is a real object and I hadn’t really been treating it as such… and I suppose it makes sense that you do not necessarily need to learn deep truths about your Fate in to have it grow. Some of the truths are more… well… It’s just a bit…

Mundane. The truth was that these normal concerns of misplacing the Philosopher’s Key struck Randidly as extremely mundane. Perhaps a vital part of using the Fate effectively, or incorporating it into the user’s life, but it was an aggravating final level to receive.

Luckily, it came with the rather positive news of finishing his first Fate. In addition, another quick notification flashed before him and distracted Randidly’s attention.

The next piece of your Fateset has become completely awakened! Using your Philosopher’s Key, follow the path of Karma and locate the next piece! As you proceed closer to the source of the karma, your ability to follow the path will grow more acute! Good luck.

As always when the System notifications were too encouraging, Randidly frowned. From his previous experience dealing with invasive Skills and Paths given to him as ‘bonuses’, paranoia crept out in response to the System trying to be friendly.

But Randidly truly didn’t believe that there was anything sinister about the well-wishes this time. Because the System was able to gather new information on the possibilities of Fatesets by observing Randidly’s progress, it was probably genuinely encouraging him to succeed. Some part of Randidly wanted to proceed no further, just to spite the System, but Randidly also knew that he couldn’t afford to ignore methods to grow more powerful.

Right now, his own growth was the most important thing as Earth moved ever closer to its First Calamity.

When he was sure that the notifications had ceased, Randidly looked around at the peaceful valley. He had covered the ground that had cracked from Sulfur’s hammerings. The last coals of his furnace were cooling. The tang of his images still hung in the area, but the natural energy of the location was once more the dominant impression.

Places like this were an oasis from the violence-filled worlds encouraged by the System. An oasis that Randidly would soon need to leave.

I’ve done so much preparation for one impending disaster after another in the last few years, Randidly sighed inwardly. If I had time though… time where I wasn’t constantly worried about the next horrible doom the System was going to throw at me… I would probably spend my time like this. Find a place in the mountains, away from people. Every day, forging metal and Engraving…

Shaking his head at the wistful thought, Randidly once more hefted the Philosopher’s Key. The sounds of the babbling brook and the wind rustling through the surrounding greenery faded away. The Philosopher’s Key and the secrets it could detect swallowed Randidly whole.

Randidly was soon standing in an astral realm of twinkling stars. The Philosopher’s Key slid forward, glowing a soft gold color and lightly brushing against the stars. And when the key touched a star, Randidly saw a place that a bridge could be built. He felt the connection that could exist there.

Yet Randidly despite the earlier notification and the strange new vista that Randidly saw when he used the key, he didn’t detect anything that could immediately lead him to the next piece of his Fate. So Randidly waited patiently in that glimmering place of connections and karma. If he couldn’t feel it yet, perhaps what he needed to do was familiarize himself with the new surroundings.

Slowly, the light from the stars dimmed. Their karma was no longer blinding. Or Randidly adjusted to the strange sensation and his understanding of the world shown to him by the Philosopher’s Key expanded.

I suppose this can be considered a benefit from completely Leveling the Fate… Randidly thought to himself as he became slowly aware of a larger current in that isolated zone shown to him by the key. Beyond the individual stars were several broad flows of light that drifted sluggishly in wide arcs. They were so huge that sometimes his vision was tricked into believing there was only one flow. But as his perspective expanded, it became clear that he was swimming in a vast sea of karmic lights.

And as Randidly strained to follow these flowing larger paths with his Grim Intuition, Randidly paradoxically could see more and more tiny stars of light. His eyes opened wider and wider and the innumerable pinpricks of possibility swarmed him.

Each was a place for a bridge. Each was another place and moment.

Randidly was the smallest mote of light in the endless streams, infinitesimally small even compared to some of the stars of light. And amongst the drifting flows of karma… Randidly was completely dwarfed.

In a place like this, it was easy to feel lost. Everything felt so… grand.

For almost an hour Randidly stood there, his focus simply wandering through the endless expanse of flowing light. It was wondrous and illuminating to drift in that awareness. It was like walking through a snowstorm made of burning embers, constantly flickering and flashing. For all Randidly’s power, for all the things that Ileot could accomplish filled Randidly with fear, it all seemed tiny in this place that the key allowed him to experience.

Perhaps only that terrible power Randidly had witnessed from Elhume searching for Yystrix could affect a vast place like this. But even then, Randidly supposed that Elhume’s struggles to find Yystrix illustrated how compared to the vastness of the universe, everyone’s individual power was an insignificant thing.