Gritting his teeth Randidly started again ignoring the small smile that Mrs Hamilton always seemed to wear now This time he would
But he stopped lowering his spear A strange thrumming resonated in his chest It was strange It did it again a low constant pressure as if someone was tugging at a thread that lead into his heart
Just a second Randidly said to Mrs Hamilton closing his eyes With his senses focused inward he could see more clearly what was going on one of the streams of Aether that lead back to him was vibrating strangely Randidly focused more narrowly but they all disappeared so he could only sigh and remain unfocused
Very gradually his sense of the Aether connections within him returned There was the roiling ball that formed his core spreading energy out through his body Then there was the 4 thin threads that slid off winding to those individuals that he gave a Soul Skill to That connection existed even here feeding them
But then there were two larger ropey connections of Aether Of those two the smaller was the one that was vibrating
one of the plants leveled up ’ Randidly thought with a frown If so there didn’t seem to be much he could do Without notifications he would have no idea what the different options were for the evolution Increasing his plants strength was important but there really wasn’t any need for it to happen quickly right
So Randidly ignored the strange thrumming and returned to the exercise He focused his attention on his hands and arms controlling the spear to make it all the way through the slowly rotating hoops even if it did knock several to the side during his thrusts The important thing was maintaining a steady pace and making it through all of the hoops in order
But as Randidly was halfway through his exercises the thrumming returned more demanding He ignored it continuing to control the spear One of the tricks Randidly was starting to realize was to never let the spear be a dead thing in your hands Instead you needed to move it as if it was a living thing with all of the weight concentrated at the tip Focus there would make the exercise much more difficult but
The resonance sharply rose within his chest a strange ringing that swiftly became so powerful that his physical body twitched Although it was a small twitch it was enough to throw off his thrust Annoyed Randidly turned his attention back inward This time he didn’t examine he just reached grabbing the thrumming connection of Aether
Instantly his consciousness was hit with a wave of sensation Rather than knowing what the upgrades would do or how it would change Arbor Randidly felt them two splitting paths Paths endlessly ever forward he could sense His main impression was only murky but full of strange rotations and symbols a map of Aether listing all of the fated possibilities
Out and out his attention stretched feeling the strange shape of their connection until his head began to pound and the sheer power of the possibilities became too much for him coughing Randidly came back to himself Mrs Hamilton was giving him an odd look but Randidly just shook his head Then after taking a steadying breath he turned his attention back inwards towards the Aether
He grasped the connection again but did not reach any further He just wanted to see the immediate options if Arbor was going to be so demanding But of course he didn’t know the details he just had a strange instinct for the ways these two Aether flows would change his plant
The first was a huge whirlpool spiraling ever closer ever more tightly the outsides gentle and slow but the inner circle viciously powerful The other was more like an ever branching stream flowing from the same source but parting and spreading outward its arms covering an area that was many times larger than the whirlpool
Although the whirlpool was clearly more powerful it was also more concentrated and the feeling that Aether gave Randidly was very different than the river The Whirlpool was anger and greed the river felt of generosity and sharing It was a river of life that a civilization could be based upon
Of course that really did very little to inform him of how this Aether change would affect Arbor but still
Randidly pressed superimposing that second image of how Aether should flow on the connection and watched as it slowly seeped inward altering their relationship
Sighing Randidly returned to himself
Mrs Hamilton yawned Finally ready to put in some work
Kiersty couldn’t contain her smug look but the grey children didn’t notice they were too busy staring slack jawed at the strange tree in front of them
It grew and stretched wiggling as if the only thing keeping it from being 20 feet tall was the small hole it was using to get out of the ground Its branches multiplied and several flaming leaves formed on the tree It settled in about as large as all of the trees are or were back in Donnyton being slightly taller than an adult
But somehow Kiersty knew that this tree had a lot more potential for growth
It grew just like that The vocal grey child asked her eyes wide
Well it doesn’t always grow so suddenly Kiersty allowed But it grows on our love slowly but always growing And I am its Priestess Kiersty You may call it Arbor
Decklan grimaced wiping blood off of his knife It was a worn thing now but it had been given to him by the Ghosthound and Decklan was sure that there was some secret still hidden in its depths But against these higher tiered enemies it was starting to reach the limits of its usefulness He needed another blade
They were stuck in a slightly awkward position right now Decklan and Devan’s squad were over here and were currently being used to mop up the raid parties led by the Raid Bosses’ lieutenants The locals were rather unwilling to let such useful and trained warriors go and so stood constantly guarding the portal
But of course this was only because Kith Klark was basically on their last legs and was only a step away from being wiped out Although their defenses hadn’t been breached most of their industry and food sources were slowly being ripped away by the stranglehold of the Raid Bosses Decklan couldn’t bring himself to hate the covert threat that the turtles and rabbits were using to keep them here
In addition 3 more factors weighed in the favor of them remaining and helping First the council wanted to maintain cordial relations and their continued presence gave them further insight to the strange situation that heralded their arrival Second the council wasn’t sure what would happen to the portal if the village fell
If the portal remained and suddenly Raid Bosses could appear inside of Donnyton at any moment
The third reason was Kiersty’s continued refusal to return which was surprising and an obstacle that Decklan had no idea how to handle Sure he could physically take her back but
The Ghosthound’s plants loved her even Thorn so Decklan was slightly leery of that option
Kiersty’s mother upon hearing the news wanted to come over and drag her back but Donnyton also didn’t want to send anymore people over in case things over on this side became serious As such they were at a weird impasse At the very least the experience was good
Which was increasingly important because after hitting Lvl 30 all of them Donny Dozer and Decklan had hit a wall in terms of leveling Experience was harder to get and you required more He had only today reached 32 and that was after battling against enemies whose level were in the high 20s for almost 14 hours straight It seemed like 30 would be something of a dividing line in the future and Decklan intended to be above that line Meanwhile less combat focused classes like Daniel and Ptolemy would probably have a much more difficult time
There were benefits to the stranglehold that the Raid Bosses had over the area They were not particularly friendly with each other and had clearly defined territories But they also were very stern about newly spawned Raid Bosses in the area and would group up and deal with any fresh arrivals unwilling to see anyone else rise to join their ranks For the same reason they didn’t launch a serious offensive apparently worried about being attacked by one of their own while they were distracted