His interactions these past few days had felt extremely draining and stilted Even if Randidly wasnÆt the most social person in the world it occurred to him that this might be a deeper problem than just a Donnyton hangover In order to build this company into the traveling source of value that Randidly imagined he needed to be able to interact with them directly
Therefore it had been time to demonstrate to the Grim Chimera the realities of their relative strengths
So although Randidly had actually fought against his own image in a sense he had really addressed the tight knot of emotions that the Grim Chimera represented in order to relieve some of the tension
Scratching his head Randidly couldnÆt help but wince When emotions get tied up in images and metaphors my sense of self becomes way too confusing
Anyway there wasnÆt really any need to go into a deep psycho analysis of himself at the moment It was enough to accept the fact that pacifying his negative traits exemplified by the Grim Chimera was a victory However it had also impressed upon Randidly that rather than continuing to empower Yggdrasil working on his Ignition Essence might be just as fruitful for his tasks here with Erickson Steel
Those strange and enlightening emerald flames served as the buffer between his two images the glue that held his disparate pieces of personality together If he could strengthen that image Randidly believed that the other things that he wanted to accomplish with Erickson Steel would be much easier Perhaps interactions would not be so strained Plus being able to manipulate the extremely hot flames would help him immensely in the forging process
Chuckling to himself Randidly stood and stretched But there is only so much time in the day I canÆt simply work on everything Ignition Essence certainly is a part of me A strong part Just hard to know how much I can force that image to grow in the short term
But it was a possibility that he would consider
For now Randidly looked around the room and at the several samples of metals that Mark had provided for him from Erickson SteelÆs current production Frowning Randidly thought for several seconds about how to test the materials Then he walked over to the table and peered at the various samples
From the labeling provided the metals provided fell into three categories civilian use mass produced and high end Of the categories most of Erickson SteelÆs money came from the sale of high end materials because that was the area that they had the biggest advantage
Randidly spent a small amount of time playing with the mass produced metals but he directly skipped the civilian use He wasnÆt very interested in looking at the basic metals made by his company It was enough that they were competitive focusing overmuch on basic products seemed like a poor investment After all Randidly believed that the quality of their base metal would increase if he could jumpstart innovation at the top end A complicated refining process could be streamlined and simplified to affect the bottom line in the future
In industry if not in economics progress tended to trickle down into the consumer sphere quite well
For the mass produced metals it quickly became clear that Randidly was physically able to bend the metals with his bare hands It took some effort and it was slow but the material was definitely not durable enough for him to bother with it at all If his grip could warp it there wasnÆt any point in putting the metal under any sort of rigorous testing Instead Randidly simply used his Ignition Essence to melt the metal taking care to note the general temperature where the metal was completely melted
Finally Randidly arrived at the high end products There were three varieties provided likely from Erickson SteelÆs most skilled craftspeople Each was a variation on the same theme that Randidly had previously pioneered a mixture of metal with refined materials from monsters A theme that seemed to have not been sniffed out by the competition
Which likely has made people focus too much on the bones Randidly thought with a sigh as he considered the examples When they really needed to work on their own basic Skills
One bar of metal appeared closer to a crystal than a true metal Another seemed as dense and heavy as lead The third was covered by a very general engraving and there was an included note that stated that the engraving was impressed upon the metal while it was still in liquid form to aid in its resilience
That at least was something that piqued his interest Randidly wondered how the individual was able to affix the engraving in liquid metal Maybe a special processing area
For reference Randidly produced a single bar of the metal that he had made in order to construct his metallic left arm Then he proceeded to test each one
It took five minutes for Randidly to throw his hands up in the air He glared at Acri Would you stop being so sharp How am I supposed to judge the differences if you can just easily cut through them all
Acri looked relatively chagrined shaking its head sadly at its masterÆs disappointment It was clear that the spear felt very guilty about it so Randidly regarded Acri with suspicion Through their connection Acri sent Randidly a stream of information in an attempt to explain
As it turned out it had an epiphany in the fight against Donnyton After that evolution it was able to steal experience directly from victims it attacked without needing to kill them Therefore it had greedily devoured quite a bit of experience from the people of Donnyton who dared challenge Randidly There were however strange limits that Acri could not understand People possessed varying amounts of experience that it could steal although this amount was not related to that personÆs strength
Perhaps Acri can take experience but not reduce someoneÆs Level Randidly thought in awe looking at this innocuous looking branch/snake/spear It wiggled guilty under his fierce observation Then Randidly couldnÆt help but release a low giggle I can imagine some SquaderÆs horror when an entire LevelÆs worth of experience disappeared in the fight against me They certainly wonÆt be willing to attempt that again anytime soon I suppose IÆll just consider it my payment for teaching them so thoroughly about images
Acri continued to wait for RandidlyÆs judgment hoping he would agree that it wasnÆt at fault for being sharper than this metal Randidly glanced at his own bar Acri had left a deep gash from a single slash but it had only pierced about one fourth of the way through the metal As for the others they had been completely sliced in half The sliced portions were so glossy and smooth that they sparkled
Randidly considered melting them as well but he shook his head Waving airly he gestured in a manner that conveyed that he was relieving Acri of all responsibility The spear gleefully curled around his waist Then Randidly turned to the sliced metals
This is just a waste of time Randidly finally decided He had come to see if there had been any interesting innovations but it seemed like there was just the process of putting an engraving in the liquid metal And from what Randidly could tell from his basic test the benefit was extremely small So small to make it indistinguishable from the uninteresting methods used by the other smelters to make their own signature metal
With a shake of his head Randidly turned his attention back inward to his Path screen The memory of that strange being within the vast crystal caused him to freeze for a second but a surge of resolve emerged within his chest I wonÆt reach that Level of ability by cowering fear I need to advance After working on my forging process it might be worth it to hole up in a Dungeon for a while the Judgement can definitely arrive in a Dungeon but since it is based on a dwindling time is that time my time or the worldÆs time IÆll have to test it
if I can delay by spending time in a Dungeon
When Randidly attempted to pour PP into his Growth of Yggdrasil Path he received a notification that made him want to pull out his hair