Chapter 1480 (2/2)

Acri twined its body beneath itself like a spring and then launched it up into the air, where Randidly snatched it and tested its weight. The material of the shaft had shifted somewhat. Where it had previously been a plant spear, now it clearly felt like Acri’s plant matter had edged toward metal. Randidly could feel the pulse of life within the forest green shaft, but it was a type of life that he wasn’t familiar with. The material felt cool and solid against his palm.

Randidly’s hand tightened on Acri and he flicked the spear from side to side. With the weight increase, the balance of the weapon felt even more appropriate in his body that was strengthened by physicalized images. Randidly could feel the momentum and force that could be now generated with the metal/plant Acri and it brought him quite a lot of joy.

He held up the spear to catch the light. Even though the main result of the transformation was a general reduction in size, Acri’s spearhead remained overly large for the shaft. It was as wide at the base as Randidly’s thigh and stretched perhaps a half meter long. Perhaps it might be more accurate to call the new Acri a glaive. While Randidly watched, the spearhead slid part, revealing two jagged blades that connected to form the spearhead. Tightly layered patterns ran across the blade, reflecting various shades of green, grey, and blue.

“You look good,” Randidly grinned at Acri, who wiggled shyly. Then he allowed the spear to curl around his waist like a belt while he checked the time.

Congratulations! Your Skill Absolute Timing (Ru) has grown to Level 161!

Randidly still had about four and a half hours before his dinner with Donny. He wavered between refining his Nether weaving or training the Grim Chimera further, but ultimately he felt like he was making a lot of progress with the Grim Chimera. While he still possessed that insight, he wanted to see how much further he could push the image.

So he opened a portal to the old Nemesai base and continued his training. Once more, he forced the Grim Chimera to confront Kaan Swacc directly.

Significance continued to pool around him, solidifying even more of his image physicalizations in his body. Although Kaan Swacc could empower himself and weaken Randidly with his resonances, Randidly’s base specs had risen to the point that even Kaan Swacc wasn’t physically a match for him.

The memory of Kaan was shocked by his inability to completely suppress Randidly, but not overly so. He once more loudly criticized Randidly for destroying his future and cutting himself off from the Nexus limitations and also for selling out his potential to the Nether. Then he weaponized his image and used it to wear down the Grim Chimera’s powerful body. With the combination of all his slightly improved new Skills, Randidly stoically endured for longer than he ever had before. The fight stretched on for nearly half an hour before Randidly was forced out of the Dreamcatcher simply because the deviation from the past grew too extensive and the headache was unmanageable.

Randidly tsk’d as he rubbed his temples afterward. Acri slithered up and rubbed his neck in concern. Maybe I should spend some time trying to absorb other’s memories and finally finish Leveling up the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night. If I’m going to train like this, I need to be able to withstand the pressure for longer.

But for now, Randidly simply satisfied himself with his current capabilities. For the next four hours, he challenged Kaan Swacc almost a dozen times, each battle brutally straining the limits of his new image. As he had hoped, the new Grim Chimera was gradually gaining a solidified shape.

Of course, a part of Randidly wished he could break past Kaan’s frustrating defense and crush him with just the Grim Chimera. And he had one last Skill that could perhaps do that: All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth. But as tempted as he was, Randidly let that avenue unpursued. He wanted to be very sure of the new shape of the Grim Chimera before he began to tinker with its most powerful Skill.

When his Absolute Timing warned him that he was in danger of being late, Randidly twisted his lips in frustration, left the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night, and allowed Yggdrasil to work on his persistent headache while he opened a portal to a bathhouse in Kharon. After scrubbing himself clean and applying some Ghosthound soap to himself with a conflicted heart, Randidly opened a portal to the residential district on the hill over Donnyton and searched for Donny’s home.

When he arrived, a guard directed Randidly downward, through several long corridors and too a staircase into a basement. At the bottom, Randidly walked out into a chamber the sized of a football field whose walls were lined with Engravings. Randidly’s eyes took in the whole thing. Considering the sophistication, these must have been done by Sam.

At the center of the area was a small gazebo and garden, where Donny was standing and talking with a man in a chef’s uniform. At Randidly’s arrival, Donny gestured for the man to leave and turned to Randidly. “Ha! You are here on time. I honestly planned on you keeping me waiting.”

Randidly smiled wryly. “I suppose I deserve that… but before we continued, I’d like to ask you a question.”

When Donny tilted his head to the side, Randidly shook his. “Look, does everyone think that I’ve been developing a temper? You can let whoever you have in your Bodyguard Skill out. I won’t freak out if we have a third person for the dinner.”

For a second, Donny’s face froze. But then he sighed. “...well, this makes things much easier. But I’m sorry to admit… I don’t think this will be the dinner you expected.”

There was a blurring as he deactivated his Skill and Randidly’s eyes widened. Fifteen people exploded into motion, taking positions around him. A horse huffed a large breath out through his nose.

Alana leveled her spear at Randidly’s back. “It’s an assassination attempt. Sun Strike.”