Chapter 1258 (1/2)

After Randidly had laid down the base Engraving over his new home, he found himself somewhat unwilling to let the moss spirits come to try to grip the island and lift it into the air. While he had no reason to suspect that the Engravings would malfunction, he worried that the presence of Nether would interfere with the substance of whatever the moss spirits were.

Yet after feeling the powerful Nether core that he had been able to establish at the center of his new island… and after seeing the resulting bubble of Nether that strangely caused an ominous mist to hang around his island like it was the base of a villain bent on world domination… Randidly would have felt regretful if he didn’t at least try to lift the thing off the ground. It certainly would make for an intimidating addition Kharon’s skyline if it worked.

Perhaps Randidly still would have decided to forgo the island that had been so thoroughly soaked with Nether, but the moss spirits had been hovering curiously around Randidly’s island during the entire process of Engraving. They listened when he shooed them away, but they quickly drifted back like naughty children and began naturally flowing into the Engravings when Randidly wasn’t paying attention. For a while he stopped them, but then he simply threw up his hands to the sky.

“Fine, fine, it’s your lives you are gambling with,” Randidly muttered. But his gaze was sharp as he followed the flow of moss spirits into the island beneath him. And for a second, his heart dropped out of his chest as the moss spirits had a sudden reaction. But rather than being consumed by the Nether, the moss spirits began to lose their emerald color… and then turned a luminescent silver.

Then they happily continued with their task of gripping the Engravings of Randidly’s home. The ground trembled and shook as the moss spirits dislodged the island from its resting spot.

With a bemused expression, Randidly watched the ground fall away as the island traveled higher and higher. He went to the far edge of the island and looked down. His home was somehow trailing sparkling motes of silver. Sensing that Randidly was finished, Kharon began trundling dutifully forward on its path to the Ogre Ridge. For about ten minutes Randidly studied the process, but even with his ability to detect energy, Randidly couldn’t figure out why the Nether caused the moss spirits to change color.

So instead of dwelling on it, Randidly returned his focus to the ground he had created. My home… Damnit, does this mean I will need to name this place? If I don’t, I bet the people will come up with a dumb nickname…

Still, those concerns could wait until he had renovated the place for real.

As Randidly had wanted the islands as pristine as possible for the buyers, there wasn’t even a shack on the island right now. And sure, Randidly could have thrown up another shack for him to live inside for the moment, but he decided that he had finally grown up to the point that he wouldn’t be satisfied just living in a shack. If this was going to be his home for a while, Randidly wanted to make the space a little bit more comfortable than that.

Of course, who knows how long I’ll actually be on Earth… Randidly winced. The plan was for the resuscitated, original Vualla to pardon the rest of his military service, but he hadn’t heard anything on that front since the original Vualla had left to accomplish her task. She had emphasized that she wasn’t exactly sure how long it would take to replace her body with Ileot’s in the System overlay, but it was slightly aggravating to be unsure whether Randidly could plan on remaining on Earth until the Calamity arrived or whether he had a hard time limit of six months.

“Either way…” Randidly found a spot on a rock next to the lake and sat down to meditate. “There are some things that I definitely need to do before I leave…”

First was helping boost Kharon’s strength by giving them the best facilities and methods to utilize images. Second was to investigate the huge amount of the Creature’s energy that spread out over all of the Zones and find out what she was up to. Third, help Earth transition through the merger of the different Danger Zone worlds to be a part of Earth’s System infrastructure. Fourth, make sure that this serial murder that had probably been raised by Ileot wouldn’t cause problems after Randidly left.

And fifth… Randidly’s mouth twisted. Fifth was to train. There would always more training. No problem was so pressing that training wasn’t just as important.

Although, this list does skip another goal that I have for my time on Earth. Maybe not a goal in the same way as the others, but I definitely don’t want to leave Earth without it. Randidly tugged up on the keyring he had forged the other day and rubbed his fingers across the golden surface of the Philosopher’s Key. I need to obtain the second part of my Fateset before I return to the Nexus, no matter the reason for that return.

When Randidly had arrived on Earth, he had followed the scent of the next piece of his Fate and found the Creature’s energy surrounding it with all the ominous stillness of a tropical swamp. He had cursed his bad luck, but having the Creature influence his Fate made a certain amount of sense. But now, as he sat on his island and traced the connection between him and his next Fate…

It didn’t lead to the Creature. Even though the tenuous connection had originally led directly into the densest portion of the Creature’s energy, the source of his Fate had since moved closer. Much closer. And as Randidly examined the energy signature without the Creature’s energy distracting his Grim Intuition, he knew exactly who it led to.

Ezekiel Ghosthound. Who was currently in Zone 1, soaked in the Creature’s energy but at least not producing any of it. Yet when it came to his father who had a Class that demanded that he kill something each day...

Randidly could sense his Fate, too. As he reached out, a name came back to him. The Dreamcatcher of the Long Night.

Dreamcatcher… Randidly pressed his lips together. A coincidence that the last birthday gift I remember liking from my father was a dreamcatcher…? This feels like the sorta thing that will be a hassle to unpack...

Tapping his cheek with a finger, Randidly wondered whether it would be worth it to make a pit stop in Zone 1 to obtain his Fate from Ezekiel. But there were a few problems with that. He had no idea what the process for obtaining this Dreamcatcher from Ezekiel would even be. In addition, he was hesitant to move against someone who clearly had dealings with the Creature before he understood what the Creature was currently up to. Randidly had walked into enough of the Creature’s traps in his day.

More than either of those reasons though… Ezekiel was currently in the area where the inaugural football game would be played. Really seems like everyone is obsessed with football these days… maybe I should see if I can disguise myself as a player and sneak into the game…?

Chuckling, Randidly shook his head almost sadly. As slightly amusing as such a situation would be, especially when he would end up being impossibly capable at whatever position he chose to play, Randidly felt like he couldn’t interfere with the football game. Looming over every decision Randidly made about preparations while on Earth was the fact that he had been present on Tellus as it overcame the Second Calamity; his image or images heavily influenced by him couldn’t be used to overcome the Second Calamity.

There was obviously time before that trial arrived, but images he didn’t have a hand in raising also needed time to grow and develop on their own. He couldn’t just be present until the 11th hour and then duck out. So even though it seemed like something sinister was going to happen at the football game, Randidly wouldn’t interfere directly. It was already enough that Naffur and a few applicants to the Order Ducis was going. And even that might be too much assistance for New Earth to learn that it should be growing on its own.

Well, none of the Order Ducis share my image. Although they’ve trained with the Grim Chimera a lot, mostly they trained against the oppressive power of my images… not to copy the specific details. Randidly shook his head. Without more information about the limiter placed on him and his images, he wouldn’t risk having the Earth fail the Second Calamity due to his touch.

After that, Randidly stood and stretched. Then he began training his Ignition Essence Skills. The peace of Randidly’s home was ripped apart by emerald and orange flames.

But Randidly supposed this was exactly how he liked it. Even if he made this place comfortable, what he really needed to do was make his home durable.

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