When she arrived she looked sharply up at Randidly and spoke Randidly Back from your vacation
Likely Helen had meant that comment as a jovial way to break the ice but her clearly anxious mood made the comment sound extremely scathing But despite that Randidly laughed Ha Yea IÆm back I assume I know why you are here
Baring her teeth Helen nodded The challenge Fighting against all of Donnyton I want to be part of it
Why
Helen blinked It seemed she had expected Randidly to reject her out of hand so his casual question appeared to have thrown her for a loop She blinked several more times as her mind scrambled to find an answer
Obviously HelenÆs immediate response was something like it seems like fun to fight so many strong peopleÆ For all that the final image Shal used to ascend wasnÆt focused around chaos and death it did glorify violence And Helen was born and bred on that wartorn planet of the spear
But Helen was also sharp enough to know that such an answer wouldnÆt be enough to sway Randidly if he really didnÆt want her to fight
As Helen struggled with her own thoughts Randidly settled his
Some part of RandidlyÆs pride didnÆt want to allow Helen to participate but she had clearly exhausted herself in an endeavor to power up enough to participate Due to her actions both her own Level and the Skill Level of RandidlyÆs Domain had moved steadily upward Those actions alone earned her merit enough that Randidly was willing to consider her participation
Yet there was another motivation factor Helen also had a powerful image
It was one thing for Randidly to demonstrate his personal strength in this challenge But what he wanted to impress upon Donnyton was how influential images were It was possible that his ability to suppress them might be written off simply as his own overwhelming strength but both of them acting in tandem would prove to Donnyton how important images are
Or at least that was the hope
Even though it seems like Sam has already picked up what images can do Randidly thought with a grimace What would the older man say if he found out that his items had created a whole new continent in RandidlyÆs Soulskill
But there were two prerequisites for Helen participating in the Donnyton challenge The first was sheer power Randidly would need to make sure she had the oomph necessary to fight by his side against Donnyton A weak image would just muddle his message
Not that he believed HelenÆs image was weak But it might still be overly restricted by the bindings of his Domain
And the second reason
Finally Helen seemed to come to a decision After releasing a breath she looked Randidly directly in the eyes and said Because IÆm your knight If you fight then it is my duty to fight as well
RandidlyÆs eyes flashed Exactly You need to be strong to fight at my side But for this fight we also need to be connected by a concrete image
Fine Randidly said lightly
If Randidly thought that Helen was blinking before this flutterstorm of eyelashes put her previous shock to shame Uh what
You can fight Randidly said again with a nod provided you can help me with something important
Behind Randidly the root avatars tightened their grip on their spears Randidly had pushed the solo training as far as it could go in a short amount of time It was time to test out the merged styles on a real opponent
Chapter 914
As the root avatar twisted out of the way of HelenÆs blow the substance of the roots ripped from the torque applied by the sudden shift in direction Flecks of plant matter sprayed sideways in an arc as the root avatar struggled to recover
So rather than hurtling forward into the blow or dodging it simply fell forward
Both the root avatar and Helen were surprised by this and paused in their battle A moment of shared confusion hung between them But then the root avatar struck upwards in a vicious thrust and Helen slashed sideways with the knife she held in her off hand The blow was so quick that the second RandidlyÆs instincts screamed it was coming it had already cut toward the root avatarÆs arms
Randidly smiled ruefully with the avatars there was a split second of lag in movement It wasnÆt a lot but against someone of HelenÆs caliber
The knife knocked the spear to the side and with a deft motion Helen spun her chain around the tip of the spear Which allowed her to pull the weapon further down and spear the root avatar through the chest with her vicious harpoon
After releasing a sigh at the loss Randidly nodded his head thoughtfully ThatÆs enough for now Thanks Helen
Anytime Helen panted as she wiped some of the sweat from her forehead Randidly hid a smile as he turned and allowed the waiting root avatars to dissipate Although Helen was undoubtedly powerful her Stamina usage couldnÆt keep up with RandidlyÆs hyper efficient Mana expenditure with the high Level Grasp of the World Seed The last eight hours had driven Helen to the edge
Of course she would recover to full strength much more quickly than Randidly would But he could tell from HelenÆs shocked expression that she couldnÆt figure out how he managed to exhaust her like this while still seeming so at ease
Truly his Mana pool was on another level entirely
Not that this was easy for Randidly either but he simply had experience hiding mental strain After all fighting against Helen meant he had to use images the entire time to keep up with her But since Randidly just had to focus his Willpower on a single root avatar fighting at the same time it wasnÆt more than Randidly could bear
After all basically all of his training projects these days involved forcing his mind to the edge Slowly in a way that wasnÆt quantifiable by the System Randidly could feel the limits of his will grow increasingly more vast
Are you Helen searched for the word she was looking for evolving your Style
Something like that Randidly said softly He reached up with his right hand and enjoyed the feeling of the warm sun dancing across his skin Today was a beautiful autumn day Hopefully tomorrow would be just as clear and bright
That way the supreme power of a dominant image would be that much more clear to the audience It would be so sharp and stark that it would darken the sky
Helen frowned ItÆs a dangerous Style Flawed too
ItÆs not a Style I plan on teaching to anyone else Randidly said to reassure her To be fair Helen was right The current blend of the two Styles was still not a balanced thing The physical strain it put on the root avatars was enough that they often broke down after only five minutes of fighting Which meant that RandidlyÆs body would need to endure that sort of exertion in order to use it effectively
Some part of him was looking forward to it RandidlyÆs instincts told him that if he forced his way down this Path he would find a powerful Skillset waiting for him But it still had to be a considered way forward The Style needed to go through a few more rounds of refinement before he would be satisfied
Luckily he had several groups of capable training partners lined up for tomorrow
But still Helen said quietly as she wiped away a smudge of blood that had spread outward from a small cut ItÆs frightening
Yes isnÆt it Randidly answered with a grin
Helen chuckled I fucking feel bad for Donnyton Are you going to take it easy until the challenge
Shaking his head Randidly said No but working out the moves was only half of it I need to work on images for a while
Nodding Helen said goodbye and headed back toward Donnyton Randidly watched her go It was nice to see that she had become much more agreeable after he stated she could participate in the challenge Honestly he should have started training like this much earlier The gains from the last eight hours were double that of the previous solo training combined
Mostly it seemed that because Randidly was controlling both participants in the past he had allowed some flaws he hadnÆt noticed to grow larger and larger without addressing them Helen had no preconceived biases and attacked those flaws maliciously