Which meant that Sam had an edge on the whole Earth Likely even on Randidly He was the only person who knew this possibility
It is a good feeling Sam said smugly rubbing his hand lovingly over the workbench he had created It was in an area a little bit distant from his usual workshop in a deserted clearing that Sam sometimes wandered to in order to think It stood in the midday sun glowing greedily as it absorbed the energy in the surrounding area and grew more powerful
It was a squat and heavy thing made of carved marble with gold accents Overall it was relatively simple almost austere It was covered with simple engravings that would increase its resistance to physical blows so the marble could actually withstand forging of more troublesome metals Sam wasnÆt as adept as Randidly but he was probably the best Engraver in Donnyton at the moment Creating the engravings hadnÆt been a problem
And it seemed that his plan to attach the array to the surrounding area to power the workbench was a success hopefully it would grow fast enough that Sam wouldnÆt catch up to its capability to withstand force
Humming to himself Sam reached into his interspatial ring and seized the elemental incarnations that had been sent down from East End Now that he had the capability and the materials Sam supposed it was time to show off a bit
We may not be the strongest but you can bet we will catch up No matter who attempts to triumph over us Sam thought as he massaged his shoulders and sat back down at his workbench
The array instantly activated and a warm veil of light spread to cover his position It felt extremely comfortable within that light So comfortable that Sam laughed with delight Then he coughed awkwardly and glanced around
Luckily no one was around to notice his unfiltered glee
Thank god Sam thought darkly If Ed saw that I would never live it down
Chapter 894
Knock knock knock
Sam blearily opened his eyes With a grunt he sat up and rubbed his forehead After almost three days of constant experimentation regarding the limits of his workbench Sam was extremely satisfied
And exhausted No matter how much the System empowered the body there was a limit to how long a human could remain totally focused That time had increased with the System but even Sam still needed breaks It gave him a headache to think about RandidlyÆs ridiculously fiddly Engraving sessions
Alas that was not SamÆs Path Not today
Knock Knock
IÆm coming Sam grumbled Regina had already left so he couldnÆt even send her to try and shoo away whoever the fuck was bothering him at almost the exact second he had finally fallen asleep But then again since they hadnÆt barged into his house it wasnÆt Donny Ed or Alana And those three were the most difficult for Sam to deal with although for extremely diverse reasons
Hopefully this could be kept short then
In addition it meant that perhaps this individual could be bribed to say that they hadnÆt found Sam at his house Sam had some spare items that he wouldnÆt mind parting with and as long as this individual wasnÆt too high on DonnytonÆs totem pole
Sam opened the door Mrs Hamilton smiled sweetly at him
Groaning inwardly Sam nodded gravely Ah Mrs Hamilton What a pleasure so early in the morning
Early in the morning You must be joking The Dawn Smith sleeping in It must already be 7 A M Do you take days off Mrs Hamilton asked playfully SamÆs tired attempt at respect crumbled and he simply scowled at her
Chuckling Mrs Hamilton continued with a more serious expression We canÆt delay them any longer the representative of Zone Seven will be getting their teleporter Which means that our political dance needs to happen now Were you able to use the materials sent down by the East End
For the first time in almost twenty years Sam felt like an absolute fool He blinked When was the last time he got so excited about something that he had completely forgotten about his responsibilities The foolish night that was the last nail in his relationship with his ex wife The summer before training camp where he did nothing to ready his ass to earn his keep on a rugby scholarship
Mrs HamiltonÆs expression immediately turned sharp
Sam cleared his throat It wasnÆt
What did you do She asked her voice frigid
That caused SamÆs hackles to go up Although he had perhaps been hasty in his use of the materials he surely wasnÆt empty handed And he wasnÆt some child for her to chide He glared at Mrs Hamilton The Level wonÆt be what I wanted but I guarantee it will send a certain message
Mrs Hamilton nodded slowly Hopefully it will be enough
Nodding shortly Sam followed after Mrs Hamilton while covertly rubbing the sleep from his eyes Hopefully Zone Seven wouldnÆt mind receiving furniture as a counter gift for their extremely valuable weapons
Randidly considered the sight in front of him It was obviously a deep lagoon but from their vantage on top of a nearby mountain it was clear that Frogpeople were coming and going freely into the water Many were carrying waterproof sacks that appeared to function exactly as briefcases People were clearly commuting to work within the lagoon The area surrounding the water was lined with those sturdy and squat longhouses in which most of the population seemed to live
They were overlooking the suburbs with the city center hidden from view
This is a city Randidly asked skeptically
Shual bobbed his head as he sat on a rock and checked himself stretching his limbs after being confined to the small basket for so long A Deep City Only those Frog Lords allied with Frog Lord Tisha understand the trick to making them others have tried for generations and only achieved failure But in this area they are pretty common Having the city underwater means that transportation within the city is easy And the buildings are quite beautiful I hear
Transportation is only important if you donÆt have access to interspatial rings Randidly thought idly Truly the Aether that he sensed on this world sparse Already the connection to Earth was reviving the world in some ways but they clearly didnÆt have access to the advantages that the System offered Plus the FrogpeopleÆs skin likely made movement underwater quite simple And let them breathe oxygen easily
Not that the breathing was anything but a mental problem with the advent of the System
Plus anything is better than feeling the constant drumming on rain on your head Randidly thought darkly It had been a long two and a half days of running South But based on RandidlyÆs communication with Neveah someone who had been sent from this city had just arrived at the portal to investigate
It was someone Level 52 but after hearing about the varying qualities relating to Feed from Randidly they both agreed that she should be much more thorough in scanning those who arrived at the portal However Aether was transferred there were clearly varying qualities And when Neveah knew what to look for she quickly found those who emitted an unimpressive amount of Aether but seemed to be using it much more efficiently
Whatever the setup on this world was it was a little different from what they encountered before Which meant they needed to be careful Because it seemed clear that their opponent would use Levels as a screen to trick them
So RandidlyÆs mission here was two fold to get information from the Toad Lord here as to who informed it of the presence of the portal and weakness of Earth and also to understand this feed Shual knew a little but not any of the valuable information Nothing that would tell Randidly what exactly it was
So it was time to get some answer Randidly preferred the peaceful method but he had also just run two days under the barrage of constant rain It shouldnÆt have gotten to him but he was profoundly annoyed by the whole experience
LetÆs go He said shortly Shual nodded meekly and hopped in the basket
Some part of Randidly wondered if Shual would make a break for it when he was busy with other activities but it wasnÆt like Randidly was willing to put more permanent restraints on the Frogperson He was just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time