Chapter 1701 (1/2)

After his discussion with Octavius, Randidly returned to Nrorce’s homeworld with a frown on his face. With the Philosopher’s Key, he portaled right to the edge of the farm. He pulled on the gloves and walked through the white-lightning corridor, ridding himself of the images that clung onto his person from his brief foray into the Nexus.

Somehow, he wished that the lightning was stronger, to burn away all his doubts.

On the one hand, Randidly’s trip had been extremely successful. He had obtained the asteroid needed by the Nemesai to start working on the Calamity and he had learned additional information about an attack against the Swacc Family. Even if it was partially an accident, the reveal of the Swacc Family’s experiments would bring pressure against the longtime adversary of Randidly Ghosthound. That was a cause worth celebrating.

But on the other hand, Randidly still felt vaguely sick to be condoning and enabling a Calamity against Expira that would kill another wave of people. In addition, the situation with the Swacc Family was a sharp reminder that although Randidly had gained a little bit more understanding, there was a lot of depth to the Nexus that was beyond his experience. The sense of undercurrents he read from Octavius’ heavy expression stank of danger. For now, it was probably for the best if he kept a low profile and continued to improve himself.

So, the farm. No matter what else it was to the owner, it was a refuge for him. The sensation of sun on his skin, the noises of the animals, the scents of dirt, shit, and fruit… everything spoke of freedom from the Nexus. The cleansed images and special equipment just reinforced that impression. Randidly stood on the farm and sucked in a deep breath of the air; perhaps only standing here could he understand the strange fixation that many had on the escape offered by Alymian.

Randidly found Nrorce sitting at the dining room table, waiting with cooling food in front of him. The gravy was a brown-grey ooze and the meat was dry. The blue-skinned goblin glanced up at Randidly as he bent to come into the sunken home. His expression was… strange. “I wasn’t sure whether you’d be back.”

“I still owe a bit more, right?” Randidly said slowly as he proceeded to the table and sat down.

Nrorce gave Randidly a heavy glance. “...well, yea. Just a bit more, maybe.”

Then the two began to eat. Even cold, the food Nrorce made was delicious.

After the meal, Nrorce gave Randidly a number of adjustments he wanted to be implemented the remade warehouse Engraving and Randidly got back to work. With Neveah’s help, he readjusted the Engraving and allowed Acri more free time to head beneath the warehouse and harvest experience from the bewildered ants. The spear seemed to hint that it was approaching another transformation.

Work here was simple and direct. Randidly let it swallow him whole. His tail burned with Mana as he began to adjust his earlier work.

Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 428!

Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 429!

The one benefit of a farm was that there always seemed to be another task that needed to be done immediately. Plus, accomplishing those tasks mostly relied on Randidly’s quick and sure movements and not at all upon his mental energy. So while he gathered the apple harvest, re-fenced the bear enclosure, and shoveled pheasant shit, Randidly was free to continue his own mental training without interruption.

Within his body, he sharpened the details of his images repeatedly. His daydreams were full of the greenery beneath the auspices of the World Tree and the desolation at the edge of an event horizon. He also carefully gathered and spun Nether into dense threads to use in an even larger Nether Array to begin to repay his debts to the Nemesai.

In addition, Randidly continued to rapidly accumulate significance and Influence. At this point, he had quickly blown past twenty thousand Influence and was rising higher every second. It didn’t seem that simply adding physical objects to his Alpha Cosmos was the cause, but that the specific role of the object added had some sort of multiplicative effect. Because definitely, the actions he was taking would have a profound influence on Expira…

For better or for worse.

That thought made Randidly grimace. Another shift was gradually happening in his inner world, although Randidly couldn’t decide whether it was a good or a bad thing. Even with his recent trip to Expira, there were simply too many details shaping his home planet’s reaction. So Randidly moved his powerful body through the mundane tasks of the farm, polishing its edges and gradually seeing the things that he affected come to life; he felt very accomplished to harvest food and then have Nrorce cook it that night.

The process granted him peace and fulfillment the likes of which Randidly had experienced only rarely since the System had arrived.

Yet simultaneously, the more that sense of peace filled him, the more Randidly was filled with a burning restlessness. Right now, his Elite Squad was out there pursuing the remnants of the Nether King’s forces. Vualla was doing the same, probably in even more dangerous circumstances for the Xyrt Brigade. And there was the Nether King himself, somehow plotting to reach the Path to the Pinnacle and accomplish some nefarious task.

And then there was the voice that had called to Randidly from the base of the shaft…

Randidly took a break from his mid-morning sweep through the fields for bugs and sat on the ground. His tail, almost subconsciously at this point, sketched out the framework for a Nether Ritual in the air behind him. He used the leather gloves to wipe some sweat from his forehead and let his breath hiss out between his teeth.

Nrorce would be mad if he saw me sitting… the corner of Randidly’s mouth curled upward. Then he shook his head.

Balance. That was something he wasn’t good at. Randidly Ghosthound only knew how to be consumed by necessity. These restive days of waiting and slow preparation… were stressful in a way that he wasn’t sure how to articulate.