Chapter 1244 (1/2)

Releasing a breath, Randidly Ghosthound stepped through the portal and finally returned to Earth. With his sharpened senses, the changes to the air were immediate; suddenly the pervasive tang of System Aether was greatly reduced. After being kidnapped by the System almost ten months ago, the return was a welcome one. Both because of where he currently was in his own training and also how near to the first Calamity Earth now was.

So he stepped forward and grinned at the unfamiliar terrain with raw pleasure. If he was being honest with himself, his homecoming was an impressive display.

The trio stepped out of the portal onto a lush hill covered with heavy greenery. Ferns and vine-wrapped trees obscured the slope down from the ridge to the surrounding ground. The air was still and humid, the blissful sort of night that felt like warm bath water on his skin.

But it was the sky that held Randidly’s attention. Thousands of bright spots of emerald light spiraled downward to form a passage that led forward. The moss spirits of Kharon seeming to have grown quite lively in his absence. Which was a good thing, the fact that the spirits proliferated meant that the Engraving was working as he had intended.

He simply didn’t realize how many moss spirits would spawn. More and more seemed to be cascading down to pool around the low ridge on which Randidly’s portal stood every second.

Randidly’s gaze shifted away from the dazzling emerald waterfall to the looming silhouette of Kharon. The moving city stood at the end of the tunnel of floating emerald motes of life like a savage beast at rest, completely inert. Only the smaller legs were engaged, meaning that the heavy stone city sat only a meter or so above the tops of the trees, likely brushing against the foliage as it had passed.

I guess this is my home, Randidly closed his eyes, listening to the muttered shock from Salazar as the lizard man spun on his heel and took in the entirety of the surroundings. Undoubtedly there would be a story based on this sight being told sometime in the future, but Randidly didn’t mind that so much. It was enough just to be back.

Randidly’s Grim Intuition slowly spread outward, past the blinding moss spirits to the surrounding area. His perception sunk into the soak and into the timbers of the surrounding trees. He noted the normal animals, the weaker monsters, and finally Kharon. He felt very directly the hastily housed group of people that had been added to Kharon; all told, the population of the moving city had grown to almost thirty-five thousand. Which meant that they would need to start getting creative with the layout of the city if it was to keep growing…

It was made to house this many, but not this quickly.

Randidly shook his head. Although he had certainly become more powerful since his last visit, that didn’t mean he could just solve every problem that plague Kharon; some things required specialists and preparation. And Randidly had no doubt that Tatiana was proactively drawing up plans to convert some of the living quarters so they could house more people.

After forcing himself to relax, Randidly started walking forward. He could sense, even from this distance, that Kharon was lowering itself hastily to the ground and the people in the city had realized that something had changed. And as he reached out with his images and brushed against Kharon… there was a strange sort of resonance. Because he touched these places, they remembered his touch. His image pulses with the familiarity.

Some would call it karma, but it bound Randidly to Kharon extremely tightly. This truly was the home that he had chosen for himself.

Hell, Randidly could now also sense a few other locations-

But as Randidly spread his images out farther and farther to follow the call of the resonance, he frowned. As his images manifested on Earth, he felt them catching very lightly on a weave of Aether. Under his touch, the weave shifted.

Immediately, Randidly was weary due to the unfamiliar sensation. He pulled back his images and the resonance dimmed to a low hum. Then he squinted and reached out to examine the weave of Aether even as it attempted to hide itself back amongst the complicated framework the System had put around Earth. Maybe before I went to the frontlines you could have avoided me, but definitely not after.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to level 183!

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Surgeon (Ru) has grown to Level 70!

Despite its best efforts, Randidly seized that weave of Aether and thoroughly studied it. Then he released it, chuckling as he did so. This is the lock on the images of Champions and Nemesai… so it’s triggered to release as the world’s images get stronger…? I suppose that makes sense. It feels like I could shred it almost instantly to pieces, but…

Randidly knew that he technically cheated to earn his image’s strength, but it was interesting to note that the System considered his current stage very powerful. It made him relatively confident in his chances against the images of the people in the Champion and Nemesai roles. In terms of images, all his base knowledge had come from Tellus. And on Shal’s home planet they divided things into four groups: Artisan, Adept, Pontiff, and Master.

Artisan meant that others would see your image when you activated the Skill. Adept meant you could create an image without relying on the Skill. Pontiff meant your image had enough power to physically affect the world without relying on a physical body. And finally Master meant that your image could persist independently of your body.