Chapter 1389 (1/2)

Two hours of meditating was supposed to be a way for Randidly to refocus himself on the problems of Kaan Swacc. It would also create a buffer of time so that if Randidly acted, the Xyrt Brigade wouldn’t catch anything that they shouldn’t see. But as he was sitting still and calming his mind on his island, he almost reflexively spread his Grim Intuition to cover the surrounding area. He saw the moonlight spirits, the ground below, Kharon’s hundreds of legs, the pulsing buzz of life from the moss spirits, and every individual within the surrounding several miles.

Kharon had hit the edge of the world and was now making a long loop back, clearing out a path of safety for any refugees from bubble cities that wanted a new home. Platforms covered in hastily scrawled Engravings carried individuals too weak to run. With Randidly’s sense of impending danger, Kharon moved quickly. The combination of these factors made the Wandering City look more like a swarm of locusts than any real civilization.

But that sense of urgency meant they were traveling quickly; after twelve hours, they had almost returned to the established Zones. In essence, Randidly wanted to keep his mind from drifting back to Kharon Academy so he looked out to the surrounding New Earth. With Grim Intuition, all of the ‘developed’ areas were within Randidly’s view.

But before his gaze wandered, it first went to his very own Kharon. Not the refugees being used for cheap labor, but the citizens. The city he had tried to make a place of dreams. Of course, thinking of dreams brought his mind back around to the Kharon Academy. And as he expected, when he looked to the education of children, the truth was… rather more disappointing than his fantasy for the city.

One of the stances of Kharon, and one that Randidly was fully behind, was that basically all children under the age of 16 would be offered a place on Kharon from their liberated bubble city. These orphans had accepted by the droves. Which was why, despite Tatiana being worried about the long term consequences, she had turned a blind eye to Delilah’s shenanigans.

Despite her young age, she at least stood as a central figure that gave some shape to the youth gangs that were slowly forming. If the current state of affairs was anything of a guide, her influence would only grow as she aged. Yet when Randidly had asked whether a girl that age could really lead so many other people, Tatiana had grimaced.

“Randidly… she is to those kids what you were to us. A monster that they don’t understand. Someone who looks like them but can accomplish the impossible. As long as she maintains her Skill advantage… I have no doubt that she will remain the top dog among your city’s youth.

In a way, Randidly couldn’t avoid culpability for the rise of Delilah. Without the Aether connection she had inherited from her mother, she wouldn’t be able to support her rapid growth. And Randidly didn’t mind the fact that she held such high esteem amongst kids. He also wasn’t worried about the long term consequences of that action.

But when Randidly looked at Kharon’s youth, they were lazing around. Delilah obviously had no desire to make additional work for her fellow children. For almost an hour Randidly watched as several teachers tried to control several hundred children. The younger children seemed to cooperate, but the older kids were much more worried about gossiping, reading, and goofing off than learning the skills they would need to survive.

Not that children should completely lose their childhood just because the System is here… Randidly pressed his eyes tightly shut. But this isn’t enough.

Plus, it was something of a double gut punch for Randidly to see that what little teaching the adults managed to accomplish was seemingly random. Memorization exercises and the ability to learn a trade were what was emphasized in the few classes he could see. Both had their place, but as soon as he watched the teaching occur, Randidly knew that it was not the correct method.

So he started thinking about what sort of method should be used to teach. And Randidly knew that he was veering toward an area very close to Kharon Academy, but he tried his best to approach it from a philosophical standpoint. In a world governed by the System, how should children be instructed?

It was, perhaps, a slightly different question than what was the best way to train. But Randidly believed similar principles should govern. Effort, exertion, and challenge were the critical components to produce growth.

Memorization and learning a hobby wouldn’t be enough. A trade would be an easy way to mine Skill Levels, and that was useful. But ultimately, a person’s strength would be determined by the power they could muster with their image. Skill Levels would eventually even out; even the strongest individuals would meet with diminishing returns past Skill Level 250. But the way they utilized their images would be an edge someone could always have.

So Randidly started looking about the way people used images. If he could identify common habits, he could reverse engineer a method to teach children those habits. Grim Intuition soaked into the stone, steel, and flesh of Kharon to find the images that were hiding there. And what he found surprised him.

Or at least, Randidly’s first impression surprised him. And the result he found caused Randidly to doubt himself and spread his perception further afield to check. He dipped into nearby bubble cities, but mostly Randidly looked back toward Donnyton and Zone 1.

But the same truth Randidly found in his city held true in those other places: most people weren’t very good at images. Perhaps it was a lack of practice or talent, but there was a stark dividing line between individuals who possessed powerful images and didn’t.

This truth was especially masked in Kharon, where everyone was baptized repeatedly by the Eidolon Crucible. Yet these individuals did not possess powerful images… they simply mimicked the powerful images that they had seen while confronting Randidly. Looking directly at the usage of their images, the difference was clear. Even the people of Kharon basically relied on a few movers and shakers in the city to set the tone and the rest simply adjusted to that image and mimicked it.

When they utilized that image, it was inorganic and clumsy. The power was severely reduced from the original. Better than having nothing or mimicking someone weaker, but it was not exactly what Randidly had in mind for the city..

Once Randidly knew what he was looking for, Randidly found the same image mimicking phenomenon running rampant in Donnyton. With the Squad system present in the Village, there was usually one or two dominant images in a squad and most of the other members followed that. It gave the squads an inner harmony that allowed each individual to empower everyone else’s image.

But it was one person’s power that made the squad what it was. That individual became the pillar that held the entire house up.

And if the squad lost that one individual… would it still be as powerful…?

Or to think about it in another way… how much value do the other individuals around that powerful person add?

Randidly’s focus shifted to the way that the various Zones were training their military forces. When he looked at the way they handled this issue, Randidly realized that no one else had yet come to the same realization that he did. They certainly scaled-down the average size of deployed forces from pre-System Earth, but they still had large groups moving together.

Not that Randidly would criticize them for this method. Because when two groups of equal power, numbers made a difference. But the secret of elevating oneself to the next tier of power had nothing to do with the group. From looking at the military might of the surrounding Zones, Randidly saw how individuals made the difference.

...shouldn’t jump to conclusions just from these few examples...

When Randidly broadened his search, he found several things that surprised him. He heard, as though she was whispering in his ear, as Theodora gave the order to Richter to betray and kill King Phirun and his elite soldiers. He felt the poisonous Nether that had taken up residence in the bodies of her subordinates. He watched as their Aether was corrupted and turned to useless sludge in their Soulspace.

As he looked at them, especially, Richter, Randidly felt pity. It was one thing for him to manage his harmonious Nether. But what they were doing was the equivalent of carrying acid in their hands in order to throw it on the faces of their enemies.

Toward Theodora Greyman, Randidly felt anger.

They might have a bit of power in the short term… but do you understand the cost they will be paying, President Greyman…? Randidly chewed on his lip hard. Normally, Randidly wouldn’t intervene in a situation like this. Because they had allowed the Nether to corrupt their bodies, their potential was being set on fire for heat right now. The situation would work itself out without his intervention.