Chapter 1452 (1/2)

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 279!

The notification was a welcome indication of Randidly’s tireless progress on his most recent ploy to dismantle the System: pilfering the weight of this tournament by being better than the Nexus at its own, ancient game of copying Nether. That glee was somewhat diminished by the realization that he would be relying on the small scale of the theft to keep the System from noticing and by the fact Randidly didn’t know what the System did with the weight, but it was still a good feeling to be legitimately working against the Nexus.

But despite his general optimism, his face creased into a frown as he looked at the working before him. He waved his hand and dismantled the sweeping tapestry of Nether that he had been creating for the last several hours; the project was ultimately a failure. The inky threads ripped and dissipated in only a few seconds as he steadily recalled all the Nether into his body.

Randidly looked toward the east, where the veil of night was rapidly lightening toward a dreary grey morning, and sighed. Below, both Kharon and the Orchard were slowly humming to life in preparation for the four matches that would happen today. Restaurants opened and gambling halls adjusted their odds for a few last-minute gamblers.

“I didn’t make it in time,” Randidly said to the air. “The weave of the Nether still isn’t tight enough. The result is too thick… Damnit, I hate time crunches…”

Grumbling to himself, Randidly stepped off the side of his island and dropped silently down toward the ground. Even if he didn’t yet feel confident stealing away the weight of the tournament, he wasn’t displeased with his progress over the last day. Even if it was just his familiarity with Nether, the repeated experiments and attempts were drastically transforming his understanding of the mysterious energy. The more he wove with the substance of Nether, the more Randidly began to have some ideas about how he could create the Nether equivalent of a Class.

He didn’t have anything concrete, yet. But he at least had some viable ideas worth investigating.

Congratulations! Your Skill Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart (T) has grown to Level 276!

Right before Randidly smashed into the ground like a human-sized bomb, the Stillborn Phoenix spread its imaginary wings and released a silent cry toward the sky. It’s twisted will warped space, decelerating Randidly and letting him alight almost gently against the ground without any disturbance to the surrounding area. Randidly narrowed his eyes, breathed deeply through his nose, then set off along one of the side paths around the arena. It was only about 5 A.M., but it seemed that the air here was already thick with the scents of food.

Which was good, because Randidly felt like having breakfast.

In a raw lack of self-control, Randidly’s stomach rumbled. What was even worse was that his physically enhanced body produced a noise that was closer to a bear’s growl than to a usual stomach gurgle. The sound was so unexpected that Randidly could help but laugh. He felt somewhat lucky that no one else was yet on the street with him.

He picked up his pace as he strolled toward the nearest source of a good smell, while simultaneously checking his messages.

He had received three messages that required his attention. The first was from Tatiana, continuing her dutiful tailoring of all of Kharon’s news so that Randidly could skim through and make key decisions regarding his city. It was almost too easy to understand the issues from the reports. Truly, her dedication to her role was somewhat humbling to him. This time, the specific focus was the first-ever Kharon Board Election, which would occur tomorrow, the next break day.

In case Randidly missed her general opinion of the timing by her framing of the concerns, Tatiana laid it out very clearly at the end of her message: “Having the election now is begging the Zones to take a swing at influencing us. A government should, above all, do its best to provide healthy and intelligent options for its population and allies, not expect such decisions to be made irrespective of the options available.”

Randidly grinned as he walked up to a wooden door leaking a particularly compelling smell; having the Zones try something was kinda the point.

When he opened the door, the scent within was even more appetizing than he had anticipated. Randidly couldn’t help but lick his lips and smile widely. Which he did at the exact moment that the slender, tanned man standing behind the stove glanced up and met Randidly’s gaze. Then the man’s entire body twitched, as though he had been doused with a bucket of partially melted snow.

Randidly rapidly pulled in his leaking image and shifted his expression to something more neutral. The combination of the hunger and the thought of these Zone bastards trying something… I need to be more careful. Well, honestly he endured exposure to my image better than I would have expected.

“Ah… sorry about that.” Randidly cleared his throat. The small restaurant only had two tables, and both were currently deserted. Randidly stepped forward and sat in one of the cramped wooden chairs at the left table. “I was distracted and let a little bit of my image slip through. Are you alright? What’s your name?”

Although Randidly could clearly feel that the man was physically fine with Grim Intuition, there was meaning to actually asking the man how he was. As Randidly expected, the man blinked and patted himself several times across his body, as though he was searching for invisible flaws in his muscles and joints. Then something seemed to click into place and the man moved back toward his sizzling grill.

While he worked on the cooking food, he took periodic glances at Randidly. “...yes, I am alright. Please forgive me for my poor manners, as the owner of this establishment, welcome. My name is Helio Udunes. What can I get for you?”

“Two plates of whatever smells so delicious.” Randidly smiled, but then he suddenly regretted only ordering two plates; his appetite now was truly ridiculous.

That thought was all the permission his stomach needed to release another intimidatingly loud rumble. His wooden chair vibrated with the noise. Helio’s mouth twitched, but otherwise, his expression didn’t change at the slip; honestly, Randidly was amused to see him struggling so hard not to laugh.