Chapter 1708 (2/2)

It was… a peculiar sort of powerlessness.

When Randidly had asked Nrorce if he could call in some help, the goblin had simply grunted. For the current bitter old goblin, that was practically a ringing endorsement.

“Nrorce won’t say much if we keep working,” Randidly cleared his throat and led the way through the hall of white lightning. Helen bore the radiation well, following smoothly after him with only a few minor twitches. Then he gave her the tour of the farm and started her to work. Randidly’s Grim Intuition detected Nrorce’s observation, but since the goblin didn’t come out to introduce himself, Randidly didn’t force the issue.

Influence +35!

With Helen’s assistance, his workload vastly decreased. She was quick, capable, and didn’t have as overwhelmingly powerful passive Skills as Randidly. So she actually worked at a faster speed than he did.

Randidly’s tail had been carefully experimenting with Nether Arrays the entire time, but now he could devote more of his attention to the task. The weave of Nether he utilized became more and more streamlined; with the same amount of Nether, he could cover a planet about 30% larger. At the same time, the accumulation of Influence in Randidly’s body began to start to have some far-reaching effects. And the only reason that he noticed was the speed at which Randidly was now gathering Influence. The change was becoming a palpable one.

As his Influence grew, something profound was shifting within his Nether Core. In its depths, that accumulated Influence circulated through the triplicate markings of significance that formed the base of the Nether Core. His foundation was continually reinforced. The passage of energy deepened those lines, strengthening the base of his Nether Core.

Of course, the effect was small. But a small increase in Randidly’s innate Nether density did a lot to aid his efforts.

Days rapidly passed. Helen and Randidly developed an unspoken understanding of how they would split up each day’s tasks. Octavius Shrike managed to obtain more valuable data regarding image refinement and passed it onto Randidly. Most helpful of all were some memory crystals that contained before and after remnants of the recipient image and the thoughts of the image refiner during the process. With concrete examples of how image refining should be done, Randidly deepened his understanding of the process and used his insights to strengthen his own images.

Meanwhile, the shards of image light in the stomach of the Grim Chimera grew increasingly active and bright as he added several more of the Nemesai homeworlds to his Alpha Cosmos. The process was always extremely painful, but the worst part was that each addition to the Alpha Cosmos seemed to take longer than in the past.

Drenched in sweat, Randidly grimaced down at where the homeworld of the Jade Prince and Obsidian Duke once sat. It took him a strained six hours to absorb the planet. I’m closing in on a limit… is it due to my individual power? Or the power of my body…? But… with the current me, I cannot eat planets indefinitely…

Randidly produced the Philosopher’s Key and returned to Nrorce’s farm. Ultimately, that was fine; he had fulfilled his promise to the Nemesai. He currently had incorporated all of their worlds into his Alpha Cosmos and could provide them with Aether. In the process, his Influence had skyrocketed to a little over 35,000.

The combination of image training and refinement of Nether Arrays around his farm worked ended up spurring a lot of unexpected growth. Perhaps his fighting capabilities hadn’t shifted much, but this was all setting the stage for his image evolution.

Randidly hummed to himself and stretched as he walked onto the sunny farm. The familiar scents and sounds were calming-

Randidly paused. Then he narrowed his eyes because an extremely unfamiliar sight greeted him by the orchard. From somewhere, Nrorce had found two porch chairs. Helen and the blue-skinned goblin were reclining in the sun, both with a glass of lemonade in hand. Randidly’s jaw dropped; it was all he could do not to rub at his eyes when he heard the two of them laughing uproariously.

It was a testament to how genuine Helen’s joy was that it was actually Nrorce that noticed Randidly’s presence first. The goblin’s expression immediately turned serious and he pushed himself off of his chair. “Hmph, well Mr. Seriouspants is back. Alright, alright, back to work then.”

Why the hell are you making it seem like us working to the bone is my fault?!? Randidly’s jaw worked soundlessly.

Helen giggled. After the goblin wandered over to the herb room, Randidly walked over to Helen and shook his head. “What did you say to him? And when did I become the serious one?”

“I just asked him how he was doing… and told him that I was looking forward to eating one of the fantastic homemade meals I had heard so much about.” Helen gave Randidly a sidelong glance. “And to be blunt… you’ve known this fellow was upset for days, but you never bothered to ask what was wrong?”

“I…” Randidly stopped speaking and sighed.

Helen shrugged. “You are working hard and paying your debts to the Nemesai. I get it… but that’s also why you are Mr. Seriouspants. Honestly, its a pretty accurate nickname. Tatiana laughed for ten full minutes when I told her.”

Randidly’s eyebrows twitched.

“Oh, one more thing. Nrorce said he’s making something special for dinner,” Helen waved a hand as she picked up a shovel and moved back to work. “His daughter’s favorite.”

And truly, that meal was the best one that Randidly had eaten since his arrival on the farm. It seemed like Nrorce’s daughter had pretty good taste.