Perhaps he should not have brought these two innocent and low Level sailors along with them Perhaps he should have forced the sapphire eyed girl to accept his assistance Perhaps perhaps perhaps
“All of them are above Level 50 and they are a relatively warlike people Most have combat related Classes ” Decklan said “Plus they can leap off their own vessels to swim up and catch human ships unawares They are a dangerous foe without numbers And even one escaping and living to talk about the state of Earth would ruin Neveah’s plan “
Once more Randidly’s eyebrows rose But Decklan just smirked and shook his head slightly to indicate that would be spoiling the surprise Shrugging Randidly settled back to wait In the meantime he closed his eyes and practiced visualizing the patterns necessary for Engravings capable of growth
Endlessly he practiced refining his ability to create mental images After seeing how useful the patterns had been in the lead up to creating his arm Randidly had a newfound respect for the process Even if it didnÆt rise to the level of a Skill familiarity meant something Using these precious seconds
Maybe this can prevent more lives lost down the road
Luckily he didn’t have to wait long For all that the Long Minnow had been fast it paled in straight line speed in comparison to sea leviathan that was the Incognita Three tall and sturdy masts seemed to reach out with their sails and snatch the wind out of the air to glide rapidly across the water
At some point Randidly could cleanly feel his connection to his Riders snap back into place as he came within range of the Skill Instantly he felt surprise and relief radiating through the connection into hiTheirere emotions hit him like a wave from the sea he was gliding across
The images were mixed at first but Randidly quickly was able to parse apart a sense of what they were telling him And first he gritted his teeth in annoyance at the bad news Of the Riders he sent one remained out of the first two one remained of the second group of three and only two remained of the final bunch he sent off
All of them sent confusing requests that they be allowed to leave the service of Neveah who was a brutal taskmaster in their eyes That caused Randidly to chuckle Neveah a taskmaster That free spirit used to barely pay attention to her actions It was good to see that Neveah was learning to accept responsibility as well They would need it as the System upped the ante on the threats it was throwing at them
Immediately Randidly felt bad for how suspicious of her he had been He should have put two and two together when she insisted that he fulfill the gardening promise she had made and refused to leave the Danger Zone to do it herself Even if her priorities were still a bit confusing she was clearly someone who stood by her word
When Decklan’s boat arrived the dock was so barren that Randidly shook his head It didnÆt look like any force had been left here to man the docks Sailors swarmed down from the heavily built ship to pull it to the mooring Luckily it seemed that the harbor was plenty deep and the dock extended far out into the water in order to allow this ship to do precisely this
Hopping to the ground Randidly called back to Kerrar “Wait here If I’m not back before nightfall well I suppose you can sail well enough to find your way home right “
Even from afar Randidly could see Kerrar flush with indignation at the jab at his ability but Randidly just grinned and turned away Instead he followed Decklan’s loping form as he headed toward the center of the island
Most of the island seemed consumed by a vast marsh but they followed a carefully constructed series of wooden platforms that kept them out of the water Feeling with his Grasp of the World Seed could sense that the water was only about knee deep in most places But that still meant quite a bit of discomfort from drenched shoes for most people so he could understand why they had made the wooden path And yet
Randidly sighed inwardly No wiggling my toes in the mud today I suppose Besides I’m here on official Earth business so
Deprived of one of the great pleasures of moving around barefoot Randidly woodenly followed after Decklan He could sense Decklan’s surprise as Randidly managed to keep pace with the man Honestly Randidly didn’t know why people always seemed to want to challenge him to footraces It was pointless With even the passive from Yyrwood Body of Yggdrasil his physical capabilities were far beyond what they had originally been with his stats
And his Agility stat was not low Decklan probably focused heavily on Agility but Randidly didnÆt think that the man would have broken 600 as Randidly had The victor of a race was a foregone conclusion
To pass the time Randidly used his Aether Detection to feel through DecklanÆs status screen to try and determine how high his Agility was Unfortunately it was a somewhat arduous process As near as Randidly could tell Decklan was close to 400 Agility but wasnÆt there yet Which was certainly impressive
Or at least Randidly thought so His sense of perspective was so skewed that it was difficult to know
Eventually they arrived at a strange pyramid Without hesitation Decklan plunged into the System made construct Randidly followed Inside was clearly a maze but there was a large hole punched in the ceiling that Decklan simply leapt toward Beyond that there was another ceiling hole and then another until they climbed easily up through the shortcut made in the pointlessly obtuse maze around them
Honestly Randidly was relieved He hated mazes
Finally they had climbed through so many holes that they stood at the flat pinnacle of the pyramid which was a raised platform about the size of a basketball court Still without pausing Decklan continued through the floating grey portal that formed the center of the area
Although this was very different from how the Ogre Ravine looked Randidly definitely felt the same sort of warped Aether in the surrounding area as the two worlds bled together Sensing his Riders and Neveah on the other side Randidly followed
There was a second where the transition was extremely disorienting and then the entire world around Randidly snapped into focus And once he was there with his bare feet planted on the spongy ground he looked around and took in the world of the frog people
Rain quickly splattered on his face but he wiped that to the side to get a better look
The first thing he noticed about this world was a tall and twisting castle that dominated the surrounding landscape Its high towers and dark walls spoke of money and influence There was an overflowing moat and a high wall of black stone that protected the bleak looking keep within its encirclement
More rain hit his face Frowning Randidly looked upward Across all of the sky that he could see a low layer of clouds spat a chill drizzle of rain downwards over the countryside framing this ominous castle perfectly Thunder cracked and rumbled illuminating the austere architecture
RandidlyÆs gaze drifted lower From the slopes of the castle Randidly could see an encampment below of a vast army There were probably twenty thousand people below ordered in neat rows across the marshy ground
That caused him to frown Not only did they have such a twisted and gruesome fortress looming immediately above the portal but they also had an army waiting below Things here were worse than he had guessed No wonder Neveah believed she needed to be here constantly the frogpeople were prepared to deal with Earth
Beyond the army Randidly caught something that caused him to blink in alarm What he had initially taken to be a low hill was actually a vast and blank wall of stacked stone As he slowly spun Randidly saw that the entire surrounding area was encased in the wall giving the people of this world the perfect staging point to attack Earth while preventing any counter attack from being feasible