The empty space in his soul space felt different It was as though it knew that there would be a new Skill there soon But as he was exhausted from the clearing up Randidly decided to put off the first refining steps for the Skill until later
There was still another hour until Ghost’s drones flew overhead so Randidly spread his Perception once more across the forest His work developing an area underneath the forest was going well Originally he had planned it to be a workshop so he could do more experiments on metals without other people observing him But very quickly Randidly realized it would be a good base for himself to live and perhaps some others if his group from Zone 32 wanted to come and stay with him
It would also serve as a nice staging point for more hunting expeditions into the borderlands Not that Randidly needed any more bones a single ingot only took about 1/10 a monster bone And Randidly had collected over a thousand skeletons in the past six months But Randidly didn’t want to lose his edge in combat
The Creature could strike at any time and he would be ready
Plus he wanted to let Acri and Sulfur grow which was important in and of itself
Therefore Randidly had started expanding the area underground to be able to house a dozen or so people just in case It was nice practice using Plant Dominance and it was oddly soothing to do
Satisfied with the progress there Randidly turned his attention to the larger forest Immediately he noticed two things First there appeared to be more people staying in the farming compound in the middle of the forest Almost double the amount that had been there previously Which was innocuous but Randidly made a note of it
Second there was a small little shrine built at the spot the little girl had been lost and he had helped her It was just a branch stuck in the ground with small flowers laid around it but it was clearly an offering of some sort This made Randidly chuckle It seemed paganism was alive and well in Zone 1
Still he appreciated the gesture of thanks Perhaps they thought it was a benevolent Raid Boss or something Although Randidly had never heard of such a thing happening based on his interaction with the Bone Wurm that provided the body for Neveah it was possible So Randidly reached out with Plant Dominance and touched those flowers that had been laid there
A pulse of life ran through them Although they had already been picked new roots grew out of them and stuck themselves into the ground The flowers straightened straining upwards for the few glimpses of sunshine that would come through the forest canopy
Randidly frowned it didn’t look there would be any the tree cover was very complete His small bed of flowers raised its faces high undaunted
He didn’t want to cause too much of a stir but
moving a few trees to let some sunlight down onto the path wouldn’t be a big deal right Ghost wouldn’t notice such a thing Besides his use of Plant Dominance would be a waste otherwise
So Randidly reached out again grasping a few of the surrounding trees Grimacing Randidly forced them to draw their roots out of the ground and move a meter or two away from the flower bed A break in the canopy opened up and starlight rained down on the flowers
After using the roots to sweep the ground and clean up any disturbed earth Randidly smiled Then he turned back and returned to the forge
Randidly hadn’t realized it prior to talking to Gregory and Sonya but metal was truly a fascinating substance It was so rigid and yet so malleable It formed an internal structure with itself and it could be blended with other varieties of metal to form other things Hell monster bones blended well with it It was the medium by which weapons were made
It was like a fire was lit in his belly It was delightful to play and create with metal It made him wonder whether this was something new or had it been inside of him his entire life just waiting for the opportunity It made him regret choosing to take coding over metal shop in high school
In addition Randidly found that the more he worked with metal the more he wanted to push the bounds of the quality of his steel But he knew the idea right now was to remain relatively inconspicuous Instead of quality Randidly increased the quantity but not in the speed sense He focused on producing more ingots from a smaller amount of materials To do that he had to Extract more fully and Refine more exactingly
It was time consuming which was a headache but it also got him Skill Levels which was reassuring He poured over the raw ore doing his best to get every bit of iron out of it Then it went into the blast furnace so he could mix in the bones The deftness with which he used Gravity Affinity also increased at a pleasing rate
Which was good but it also clearly displayed the limitations of Gravity Affinity it simply wasn’t a very powerful Skill Randidly had done an experiment once and an Inspired Gravity Affinity was only as powerful as his regular punch Getting force above that simply wasn’t possible He would need to find a way to evolve the Skill as he had done with Root Manipulation in order for it to be effective in a fight
When Randidly turned in this day’s work he was almost one third of the way towards obtaining preliminary citizenship Foreman Davey was as pleased as a pickle that Randidly continued to refine his steel making process and threw an extra 50 in the deal as a reward and an agreement for continued business
This Randidly agreed to with a nod and a smile
It was strange they didn’t actually know each other but Randidly felt some rapport with Foreman Davey There was something reassuring about having a strictly professional relationship with another person that eased Randidly’s worries about social interactions
Feeling relatively pleased with the day’s haul Randidly began to wander back towards the edge of town where he had set up a small shack to throw people off his under construction place in the forest But before he could return to his home he saw a scene that made him from It was a conversation between two women he recognized although he didn’t know the one’s name And with them was a man that Randidly very much wanted to forget
The man toyed with the edge of his military uniform Look I just wanted to apologize
Her bright orange hair swishing back and forth the young woman shook her head Her street clothes were gone and instead she wore a brown robe like she was a monk of some sort These two strangely dressed individuals were a stark contrast to the normal population of the area And between them stood Tatiana
I think you’d better leave Tatiana said coolly and then she looked over the man’s shoulder and made eye contact with Randidly
Chapter 518
Tatiana had been doing her best to ask soft questions to this young woman Adrea when this pompous ass had sidled up Although she hadn’t seen the girl in a while she knew of her it was the girl who had raised a stink about her brother’s disappearance in one of the Eastern cities a few weeks ago
To see her now wearing a habit of one of Father Foster’s followers made Tatiana extremely frosty Truly that fucking cult would use any weakness to worm their way into the lives of innocent people Initially Tatiana hadn’t seen them for what they were and thoughtlessly attended a few of their services
Even remembering it now her eyes flashed dangerously That Father Foster
But this girl had stubbornly refused to follow any of the soft outs that Tatiana offered her Instead she steadfastly defended the organization and continued to try and spread a pamphlet for a church that would be opening up between the factory village and the city proper But all steelworkers and their families were encouraged to attend
Tatiana was considering her next move when the man showed up
Please give us some space The man said simply his eyes sliding up and down Tatiana’s body like an ooze We have some history
I have nothing to say to you Adrea said bluntly crossing her arms Even though she was now a member of the religious organization Tatiana could tell that it hadn’t been long because she was still alive with life and fire Tatiana knew from experience that they had ways of getting feisty women to walk around with dead eyes