Chapter 1682 (1/2)

Randidly was honestly having fun toying with the kids. Everything was chaotic and light like he was hopping along in a bouncy castle of play-violence. None of the bloodthirstiness he had routinely encountered in the Nexus was present. But perhaps even more than he was enjoying the experience itself, he savored the genuine resolve radiating off of each of these students.

This was why he had founded Kharon Academy. To teach kids how to channel that energy. To make a place where the entire point was to struggle and attempt and fail and try again to address the great flaws of humanity. There was something so genuine and irresistible about their obvious enthusiasm. Randidly felt himself shifting, steadily morphing into the mountain that the kids were throwing themselves against.

Imperceptibly, he lowered his speed a few iotas and made his avoidance just a few hairs closer to their attacks. He hoped that they would feel how impassable even the smallest fraction of distance could be in the hands of a true expert. He hoped they would be motivated to keep improving.

And then-

“Entangling Roots!”

A single voice cut through Randidly’s self-control. The ground beneath his feet quivered and thin and feeble roots wormed their way upward to seize upon his ankles. He couldn’t resist smirking. Subconsciously, he released a pulse of Nether into the surrounding space. Anything else I would endure. But this Skill…? Heh. No.

Let me show you how to properly use this.

The smallest fraction of Yggdrasil manifested itself, but not in the air above him. The ground of the main Kharon Academy skyisland rumbled beneath their feet, briefly hosting the vast and overpowering root network of the World Tree. The buried veins were oozing with pure golden energy, enough that anyone standing on the island abruptly had their Regenerations double, just from exposure to that vibrant aura.

Hum, I’m not as good as I used to be at remaining low-key… Randidly winced slightly as his image soaked into the ground beneath his feet. Likely, quite a few individuals on Expira had the capacity to notice that, especially if they were near. But honestly, it didn’t matter; he wasn’t trying to hide.

He just wanted to investigate the state of Kharon Academy. And if he had fun at the same time...

Influence +29!

Randidly shamelessly knocked aside Eileen’s grip on the Skill and hijacked it. Nether was hurtling through his veins, pulling meaning from the surroundings and from his Nether Core to spin together in a perfect concoction of potency. The roots Randidly touched with his will instantly swelled and thickened, before exploding out of the ground in a mess of shattered organic matter.

Randidly had planned to just seize them all with the roots, but then he remembered Todd. He had another idea on how to proceed.

Already, Randidly’s hand was moving through the air. His touch was lazy, watching the ripples of natural energy swirling around his person. He guided those broken pieces of roots together like they were brown threads, rapidly weaving the pieces into a flat bottomed vessel that was a mix between a surfboard and a canoe. There were small sides, but most of the material formed the body and the raised prow of the vehicle, which displayed a tree with its branches stretched skyward.

He affectionately dubbed the vessel the S.S. Yggdrasil.

Randidly’s arm on Todd tightened imperceptibly as the surrounding ambushers paused, looking in shock at the sudden appearance of the vehicle. “Todd? A Scrawl?”

It only took the kid a few seconds to realize Randidly’s plan. Laughing uproariously, Todd’s hands were moving in the air, weaving Mana into a dense nucleus of energy. A second later, the ambushers realized what was happening. Above them, Eileen Krouse shouted. “Stop them! Destroy that… thing!”

But it was too late. Todd’s fingers fluidly wove the Engraving and then tossed it down to impact the miniature S.S Yggdrasil. The lines of energy expanded upon contacting, turning at sharp angles as it spread to cover the whole of the repurposed root surface. Behind them, the ambushers were firing more Fireballs to incinerate the wood, but Randidly stepped and swayed forward to stand with his knees slightly bent on the item.

The roots shuddered beneath his feet and then Todd’s Scrawl activated, pushing them abruptly up into the air. The projectiles slammed harmlessly into the ground and shattered some of the cobblestones that they left behind.

With air rushing around them as they ascended into the wide blue sky, Randidly clicked his tongue and looked downward. Tsk, I don’t want this to cause much damage to the surroundings. If only I didn’t need to be near the projectiles to neutralize them with Ripple of Amenonuhoko-

Then Randidly paused. Wait a second…Do I really need to be so close to make use of the natural energy I’m gathering…?

Randidly divided his attention in two. One part of himself was in the moment with the giggling Todd, reveling in that sense of intoxicating freedom as they spiked upward away from Kharon Academy with an honor guard of emerald moss spirits swirling immediately into place around them. But the other part of his attention split itself out from the ripples that surrounded his own body. First, he looked down at the S.S. Yggdrasil beneath his feet, then more widely at the other skybikes and box-like public transportation vehicles cruising between sky islands in the swirling space above Kharon.

The sky was so wide, but around Kharon it was thick with activity.

Realizing he could look was the hard part. And once Randidly looked, he was stunned to see the small ripples produced by everything in the surrounding sky. For a brief moment, he was struck by the lapping waves of energy that passed between the skybikes, the beating heart in his chest, the massive drifting skyislands floating even further above him, and the ever-present wind. Even the clouds above produced a massive wake of faint ripples, a glacier of water vapor gliding above the human world.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 361!

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 362!