Chapter 1330 (2/2)

As much as the heat might crave to cease being hot, it could not. Balking or slackening was not in its nature.

Randidly sharpened the edges of the tongues of flame. He expanded the area of influence that Ignition Essence exerted. Then Randidly experimented a bit with other forms to be producing the flame, but nothing but his own body felt genuine.

From the names of the Skills, Randidly wanted to make something akin to a phoenix that could fan the flames. But of course, Randidly hadn’t ever seen a phoenix. Or rather, the ones he had seen had been artistic renditions from pre-System Earth; they were completely useless to him.

What he wanted was the bird that personified fire. Not a fantastical drawing.

When casting around his mind for other options… nothing seemed to be a workable candidate. He had regret, guilt, desperation, and inspiration swirling in a confusing pot for the image of Ignition essence. What form could he give to this strange flame that would possess all those emotions…?

Coming back to his physical body, Randidly brought up the cool metal fingertips of his left arm to press against his temples. He hadn’t been exhausted by the work he did sharpening the edges of the Ignition Essence image, but it was still a little disappointing that he really had no idea how to proceed next. There were other methods of training, but... Perhaps if he contacted Illym’s parents and asked for some more details about her life-

And as Randidly had that thought, he felt the rope bracelet around his right wrist stir.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 32!

Tilting his head to the side, Randidly flicked his wrist and conjured the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night to float above his hand. Once more, the half dozen rotating hoops spun outward from a central area while a complex and geometric core extended between the hoops, overlapping and folding in unpredictable ways.

Once the Fatepiece unfolded, Randidly’s Grim Intuition flowed inside the Fatepiece to experience the deep and varied sea of chimes that lay within. But very quickly, Randidly could identify one of the chimes that was producing its noise at a very different frequency of the others. Likely, this was the source of the disturbance with the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night.

Looks like this started reacting when I was thinking about ways to find out more about Illym. I suppose the Fatepiece is trying to tell me that this is an answer…? Randidly thought with a frown as he considered the noise. After the emotional experience with touching the previous chime and finding Yystrix, Randidly was somewhat leery to just make an attempt.

But ultimately, he gritted his teeth and reached. As he did so, his mind skimmed through several of the most emotional or pivotal moments in his life, wondering where and when this would take him. The world around him warped and shifted and suddenly Randidly was in another place.

Contrary to what little mental preparations Randidly had done for this experience, he did not immediately recognize the surrounding area. In fact, it appeared that Randidly was somehow in a spot that Randidly had never seen before. It looked like a spacious and austere bedroom. A large mattress was against the far wall, next to a closet. There was an unlit lamp in the corner next to a desk. There were windows, but they were completely covered with dark cloth, throwing the room into shadows.

But he was standing frozen opposite someone else who was similarly frozen. An average looking woman with dark hair and a square nose looked incredulously over at Randidly while she held up a cherry-red sword with the tip pressed right below her breastbone.

And Randidly immediately knew her: this was Illym, the Above-Average Child. And based on the current scenario, it seemed like Randidly’s Fatepiece had somehow taken him to the moment right before Illym took her own life.

This is certainly… not what I expected...

Illym’s eyes had been bleak and hollow when Randidly had arrived, but his sudden appearance seemed to ignite something deadly and intent in her expression. Without batting an eyelash, she spun the sword in her hands and pointed the tip at Randidly. “You… what the hell do you think you are doing here…?”

“I…” Randidly tried to figure out a good answer to that question. After Illym’s expression darkened during a few seconds of hesitation, Randidly decided to go with something like the truth. “I’ve come from the future. I’m here to stop you from taking your own life-”

Illym snorted and swung the sword. As she did so, first the air and then the entire room around Randidly ignited in a furious roar of heat and fire. The image was pure and blunt, but certainly effective. Almost instinctively, Randidly activated the Chimeric Avoidance to dodge the damage, but the heat and suddenness of the attack gave him no room to retreat. His body began to bubble and boil.

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Avoidance (L) has grown to Level 241!

Congratulations! Your Skill Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality (A) has grown to Level 263!

-and then Randidly was back, floating in the dense mass of chimes. After shaking his head and righting himself, Randidly easily located the chime that continued to release its teasing cry so frequently. At least its good to know that I won’t suffer permanent damage from what happens within these strange places…

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 33!

Sighing, Randidly went back and entered the area of that chime. The world shifted once more. Immediately after everything ceased melting into swatches of color, Randidly began to speak. “You see? Fighting me is useless. I’m truly from the future-”

Randidly paused. Because now he noticed that once more he had arrived to a dull-eyed Illym who had a sword pointed at her chest. She twisted the sword around. “You...what the hell do you think you are doing here…?”

A vein in Randidly’s temple throbbed. So the moment saved in the Dreamcatcher is static, huh…?

A split second later, Illym attacked Randidly again and knocked him out of the strange suspended moment.