Shal eventually found him surrounded by crowds and brought him out When they returned to the boat Shal gave him a long look You have an hour After that the training will begin Do you agree
And although Randidly’s head was really pounding now he nodded Although he was able to use his magic to make up the difference the fight had clearly demonstrated his own insufficiencies especially in regards to the spear Maintaining powerful spells was important but it wasn’t enough His Spearmanship must at least rise to the level where he could hold his own
So after around 30 minutes of silent meditation in his room where the worst of the rebound from overtaxing his mental resources passed Randidly opened his eyes and viewed his skill screen
He had gained 3 Skill Lvls in Spearing Roots 1 in Root Control and Pollen of the Rafflesia 2 in Mana Strengthening and Wall of Thorns 1 in Agony Incinerating Bolt and Circle of Flame 3 in Plantomancy 2 in Spear Mastery and Spear Phantom’s Footwork 1 in Phantom Thrust and Eyes of the Spear Phantom 1 in Phantom Half Step 2 in Dodge and Block 2 in Haste 5 in Phantom Onslaught 2 in Empower and Fighting Proficiency 1 in Calculated Blow and Edge of Decay 2 in Pierce the Skies Shatter the Earth and Struggle and 5 in Battle Intent
Randidly also gained 3 Levels in the Spear Advances Ash Trails he had 2 levels in Engraving from the morning 1 in Physical Fitness Meditation and Running 5 in Poison Resistance 2 in Mental Strength and Grace 1 in Bacterial Regeneration 3 in Superiority and 4 in Mental Fortitude
An excellent haul for a day and a half’s work but this was the reward that came with experiencing several near misses with death And for using his moves on actual people rather than just training alone
And since he currently had no path Randidly considered his options
Watcher 0/ Heretic VI 0/ Oathbreaker 0/25 Initiate of Ash I 0/75 Path of Carnage I 0/ Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 0/50 Path of Control 0/200 Grace I 0/75
There were two changes of note in his options The first was foreboding but Heretic had increased to VI There was no corresponding notification as Randidly scrolled through the still fuzzy notifications affected by the potion but it would bear watching However if there wasn’t a notification there probably wouldn’t be another Judgement soon For now Randidly hoped it wouldn’t be until Heretic X and moved on
The other new choice was the addition of the Grace I Path Grace was a passive skill but it had real tangible effects on his balance and center of gravity It was hard to tell what the path would get him but it was an option
He had gained 73 PP but wasn’t sure which direction to head Path of Control still seemed like the most worthwhile but it came with a hefty price tag And Randidly wanted to focus more heavily on his physical attributes His spells were currently sufficient while his physical prowess was not
Nexus Traveler Cohort 5 seemed like a reward path but was somewhat fishy Initiate of Ash was something he should research more before going into
Weirdly Randidly found himself selecting the Watcher path Although it was one that he had possessed for a long time that was part of the appeal it was likely a short path And he would rather start it quickly and finish it now while there was no obvious option other than Path of Carnage I But that might take a while and it would be good to get it out of the way
When he placed the first point into it to his surprise a fuzzy notification appeared in front of him Apparently it was a good thing that he had waited to take more of the potion
Warning Selecting Watcher 0/ Will result in the loss of the Path These paths are mutually exclusive Do you wish to continue
Randidly hesitated for a small moment and then clicked no If they were mutually exclusive and with a lame name like Watcher Perhaps it would be more fun to gamble on the random one It would likely have a similar PP requirement
So Randidly backed out chose the all ’s path and selected yes at the notification Only to be faced with another notification
Warning There has been an error in the establishment of the path Certain prerequisites have been lost Development of a related path is possible Warning if you continue with insufficient fuel death or other side effects may result Do you wish to continue
After taking a deep breath Randidly reached within himself finding those slender threads of Aether He could see how they spawned from that strange source held in his chest growing thicker by the day The source too seemed somewhat larger pulsing with its sickly light It burned and frothed then frosted and cracked flowing into every corner of him His body was lousy with the stuff
Grinning Randidly clicked yes
Processing
Against his will Randidly’s body shuddered and twisted The Aether in his chest began to burn hot The feeling in his fingers and toes quickly disappeared and blackness slowly consumed the edges of his vision The walls of the small room began to swim and Randidly suddenly felt a pang in his stomach
Perhaps he had just made a terrible mistake
In the next moment the energy in his chest froze solid and he couldn’t breath and his fingers began to dance and twitch filled with a fiery energy He growled huskily the only noise he could force out of his seized chest The energy within him began to pulse not unseizing inside of him but moving with a rhythm Slowly that rhythm aligned with Randidly’s heartbeat
Without counting them Randidly felt the heartbeats slip past until the thrum of blood and energy in his body drove his heartrate and blood pressure up to the point he could feel the pounding in his eyes and he felt like his eyeballs would explode outward
But his chest slowly defrosted and the pressure faded away but simultaneously grew louder thundering in his ears
Failure matching pair not found Expanding database parameters
In his stomach the Aether began to twist and swirl forming slowly into a cyclone It pulled and pulled and although he had always heard it referred to as an Aether Spring within him he had never really understood what that meant But now as the Aether surged upwards exploding out to fill his entire body he knew
All this time although he had drawn some of the Aether most of it had flowed into him and found no avenue to spread It didn’t radiate out of his skin but could only travel through the connections he made Some of that Aether was lucky enough to flow along to Thron and Arbor and other amounts went to Sam Alana Annie and Mrs Hamilton but that was still a fraction of the potential the Aether Spring possessed
After all it was enough to support an entire village
So it had gathered deep within him settling into a strange reservoir packing itself tighter and tighter forming a denser and denser mass of energy waiting it for it to be summoned And now that Randidly beckoned even slightly it all rose exploding to his aid
It began to burn partially of heat partially of cold and Randidly wanted to scream such was the grinding vicious pain caused by the energy inside of him But all of his muscles seized again and he was stuck Without moving with a certain fatality to his mindset he waited in his traitorous body as the energy pulsed louder and louder The veins in his arm stood out like bulging worms and he saw them twitch as the energy pulsed
Failure No matching pair can be found Recalculating
The energy moved again cracking and scattering syphoned off somewhere Randidly took a breath gasping Although his physical condition had improved he still needed to breath
Well eventually for sure but the time he could hold his breath might be pretty impressive now
Warning anomaly detected System warning
The most recent notification appeared and disappeared just as fast as Randidly could read it Then he began to doubt himself because his vision was still vibrating at the edges