Chapter 1684 (2/2)
Randidly bowed his head. He sat there for several seconds, examining himself. He even activated Ruin is Inevitable, Yet this Too Shall Pass, stretching his consciousness through the network of Randidlys to reassure himself. He felt thousands of versions of himself, all having managed to reach this moment of reflection, leaning against this very same tree.
Congratulations! Your Skill Ruin is Inevitable, Yet This Too Shall Pass (T) has grown to Level 323!
…
Congratulations! Your Skill Ruin is Inevitable, Yet This Too Shall Pass (T) has grown to Level 349!
Randidly scanned the hearts of these alternate selves, even as he could feel them scrutinizing him in turn. None of them held regret. They just were in various stages of reflective contemplation, finally seeing the figure of ‘Randidly Ghosthound’ through the eyes of Neveah.
When he finally raised his head, his right eye glowed emerald and his left darkened to a forest green that toed the line to cross into absolute darkness. No longer did those seeking him have difficulty locating his image; now they recoiled in horror from the intensity of what they found, as though burned by the contact. Randidly ignored the watchers and still focused inward on himself, toward the middle figure of his three images. Heh. That Skill name… Ruin is Inevitable, Yet This Too Shall Pass… in the context of the way I’m transforming myself… isn’t it a bit ominous…?
Yet Randidly let that thought go. Instead, he spoke to the Grim Chimera. “And you… of all the images, you were my humanity, weren’t you? That’s why you always trailed behind the others. That’s why your Rarity grew more slowly, no matter how many images I stuffed into you.”
The Grim Chimera remained silent. Its two tails flicked back and forth behind the manifestation, causing Randidly’s own misbehaving tail to sneakily unwind itself and begin to flick back and forth in response. But Randidly didn’t mind, he just continued to examine the details of this image.
“But you are about to evolve again,” Randidly finally said. He flexed his hands. “After my body was remade, beyond the basis of what I once was… the humanity at your core is probably going to be diluted even further. To the point of being unrecognizable to the original version of myself. This… will be that final step. I… will truly be a force. One that will stop at nothing to evolve and accomplish this task I’ve set myself.”
Neveah’s face appeared in his mind’s eye. I would be sad if my little brother sacrificed himself entirely to protect someone else.
The Grim Chimera nodded slowly; it agreed that this evolution would be a step away from Randidly’s humanity. The points of light in its swollen stomach began to shine with increased intensity. The acknowledgment was the final sign that Randidly needed. He clenched his right fist. His vacation was over.
Randidly stood. Then he walked slowly to the edge of his rooftop forest. To his surprise, when he arrived there, the roots beneath his feet were steadily shifting. They twisted upward without him even activating Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil, forming a thorny throne. Randidly blinked twice, feeling a bleary consciousness within the forest acknowledging him as its master. For the display, he was grateful. As long as he didn’t need to use his Skill, the wood wouldn’t burn once he stopped supplying Mana.
So he climbed into the chair and leaned his chin against his right fist. He stared out into the night and spoke quietly. “Come.”
A group quickly accepted the invitation for an audience and appeared in front of Randidly. Randidly’s gaze flickered; in truth, this was two groups that had come together. And honestly, they were a strange combination. The Pantheon of the Alpha Cosmos’ System and the Nemesai of Expira stood together in front of Randidly.
“We want to talk about the Calamity,” Lucretia said quietly. “We have a few ideas… but since you’ve returned, we want to run them by you first. We weren’t sure… whether to limit the scope of the attacks or not. And in terms of predictability… there are pros and cons to making the actual problem a surprise or not.”
Congratulations! Your Skill Revelations of the Atramentous Threshold (T) has grown to Level 395!
Randidly was struck by a sudden premonition as Lucretia finished speaking. If he did not intervene now, changing up their plans to ease the danger for Expira, Todd would suffer in the Calamity. Perhaps the experience would not be fatal… but that bright-eyed boy would be forever altered. His optimism would suffer a huge blow.
Randidly tapped his finger against the root throne and examined the feeling. He couldn’t tell if it was paranoia or a true prophecy. And if it was true…
Would he change his mind?
Randidly closed his eyes. “Send me the information. But first… there is something I need to do.”