Chapter 1247 (1/2)

The technician was fidgeting with her measuring tape as she watched Randidly preparing the prototype to test his idea. “Sir… are these really designed to fly…?”

Randidly glanced over his shoulder at the woman and then turned back to face the 1 meter by 1-meter slab of concrete in front of him. He cracked the knuckles of his right hand and flexed each finger. Very specific lines wormed their way across the surface of the slab, engraved directly onto the surface by Mana. “Depends on what you mean by designed, I suppose. Now, Tatiana tells me that the moss spirits like you quite a lot?”

“Well… yes…” The young woman rubbed her eyes with the knuckle of her thumb and glanced around at the surrounding area. When it became immediately apparent they were still alone, the engineer rubbed her sweaty hands on her jeans to work off some of her nerves.

They were at a currently deserted portion of Kharon, rather inexplicably named ‘Docks’. The Docks encompassed the slew of roads and tunnels along the South of Kharon that was dedicated to inter-industry transport. Aside from warehouses and overpasses, Randidly and the engineer were alone in the early morning air.

Randidly rubbed his hands together as his Mana continued to flow out and put the finishing touches on the Engraving. Starting to get a bit cold. And here I thought that seasons were mostly eliminated by the System. Probably not good news for Earth that they are making a comeback.

Around the two individuals were several more preprepared platforms of wood, metal, and concrete, waiting for further experimentation. Randidly had requisitioned a whole group of people to help, but the rest were currently gathering materials or additional civilian volunteers to participate in the experiment. So the engineer mostly adjusted the grip of her clasped hands and cast nervous glances toward Randidly.

It wasn’t as though Randidly didn’t have a fair bit of sympathy toward her. No matter what he did, the presence of his powerful images and Nether Gatekeeper body seemed to seep out and unnerve the average person. He had even tried to prepare so a one on one session like this wouldn’t happen; the only reason that she was here alone was that she had arrived late. So while the others continued to bring more stuff, she received the dubious honor of being the subject of the experiment.

The Engraving across the concrete slab flared to life and Randidly nodded decisively. “Perfect. Okay, I want you to stand on the slab.”

To her credit, she only hesitated for a short amount of time before walking quickly and hopping onto the slab. Although Randidly could tell her images weren’t too powerful, she at least had some Levels under her belt.

Now comes the hard part, Randidly thought with a little amusement. He tried his best to smile reassuringly at her. “Alright, I’ve put the Engraving they need, so what I want you to do is ask the moss spirits to lift the platform.”

The engineer blinked. “What…?”

Randidly swirled his finger in the air and mobilized a small portion of his Willpower. Responding to his desire, several dozen moss spirits slid out of the ground and gathered around Randidly’s finger in a tiny spinning nova. “The moss spirits are pure energy tied into the consciousness of Kharon. The Engravings I made give the spirits something to grip on to interact with the slabs. You said you are liked by the spirits, so ask them to grip the piece of ground underneath you and lift it up.”

“Uh… the moss spirits can do that…?” The engineer asked quietly. Randidly didn’t bother to reply. Instead, he started Engraving two more slabs. After having finished the Engraving once, he was much more confident in its execution and could work much more quickly.

By the time Randidly finished with the second batch, the engineer had mustered up her courage and began to whistle a lively tune. Very quickly quite a bit more moss spirits than Randidly had summoned by simply urging them appeared. Of course, once the moss spirits were dancing around the engineer, she looked helplessly at Randidly.

He ignored her, humming to himself as he continued to work. I already know that I could get them to lift the slab; they would do basically anything for me The real question is whether anyone can. And how long their dedication to those people would last… Sorta awkward for this whole venture if the moss spirits only hold something up as long as someone is on top of it, or until they get distracted.It would have been possible to bind the moss spirits who try to engage with the Engraving, but that seems like a poor repayment to Kharon for everything that it does for us.

With no help forthcoming, the engineer hesitantly stopped whistling. Soon, the moss spirits swirled around her playfully before beginning to drift away. After clearing her throat, the engineer said. “Uh… excuse me moss spirits... uh, Mr. Ghosthound, it seems like tha-!”

The engineer paused when her words caused a surge of sudden stillness among the moss spirits around her as she addressed them. Then she leapt a full meter off the ground as another surge of moss spirits emerged from the ground and the whole of them clustered around her person.

Randidly simply glanced casually over his shoulder. Already he was moving on to engrave a larger frame to eventually test how much weight the moss spirits could bear. “I hope I don’t need to tell you that the moss spirits quite like being addressed directly.”

“I… suppose so.” The engineer blinked, her earlier fear quickly being forgotten. From the narrowing of her eyes, Randidly could tell that her mind was already grasping at some of the possibilities of utilizing the moss spirits directly. Then, to the moss spirits, she said, “Can you lift this? With me on it?”

Immediately, the shimmering moss spirits flooded down into the Engraving. The sharp lines that Randidly had drawn surged to life to become a flowing teal color. After a somewhat ominous rumbling, the concrete slab lifted off the ground and began to easily levitate. So the woman pondered it before asking the moss spirits to float her slowly forward. They did so immediately at an almost glacial pace.

As the engineer grew more confident in the attempts, her asks became more detailed. And the moss spirits seemed to understand her perfectly every time.

As the engineer zoomed back and forth in the air about the docks, Randidly continued to Engrave and fondly watch the interaction. He didn’t truly believe that no one had discovered that it was possible to communicate with the moss spirits, but Randidly supposed it was possible that no one really discovered what the moss spirits could do.

What really changed for this experiment was Randidly’s mastery of Engraving. Without the Engraving, none of this would have been possible.