Then again if they had I wouldnÆt be able to watch this
See something you like sir
Evan blinked The owner of the stall smiled at him and pointed down to the ingots that Evan was inspectingÆ
Oh Oh yes of course IÆd like to have two ingots of this variety Evan said casually After he had paid he moved several stalls over looking for less friendly merchants
By the time Evan had another spot an attractive young woman walked out of Erickson Steel and frowned at the police officers
MaÆam based on the evidence we received there has been a murder on the Erickson Steel premises The older officer said gravely We would like to ask you a few questions
What Why is it any of your business who I kill The woman asked She sounded genuinely confused why the police would care
Both of the officers seemed to have caught her tone as well MaÆam are you saying you are aware of such an incident
Yep I kill him Why
The air around the gate turned strange Evan wasnÆt the only person listening The fact that this young woman so casually admitted that she killed a man drew the attention of quite of few of the surrounding Erickson Steel customers
maÆam you will need to come with us so we can figure out the details of this incident Please But as the one officer produced handcuffs the woman resolutely shook her head
No If thatÆs all please leave Then she turned away
The police officers paused Then they looked at each other Their eyes hardened MaÆam if you donÆt come willingly we are permitted to use force
She swung her spear twice so fast that Evan couldnÆt follow either blow The first shatter both of the younger manÆs knees in a wicked low horizontal strike The second attack seemed to have rendered the older man unconscious The two police officers collapsed without being able to put up even a token resistance
Snorting the woman turned around and walked back into Erickson Steel headquarters
Chapter 975
It seemed that luck was with Randidly today Which honestly wasnÆt a phrase that Randidly thought very often After only three hours of scouring the countryside he was able to find a Dungeon that satisfied most of his requirements in a low valley surrounded by constant mist
Luck might have been less of a factor than the SystemÆs foolishness however If not for the constant mist Randidly probably wouldnÆt have given the area a second glance
The Dungeon Level was 67 so Randidly wouldnÆt have any problems Leveling or gathering monster bones of sufficient structural integrity for his forging experiments Rather briefly Randidly glanced around at the mist filled valley Hopefully visibility wonÆt be this poor within the Dungeon
Then he stepped through into his new training ground After blinking for several seconds Randidly raised a hand and shaded his eyes from the intense sun that hung low and fat above him The drone of insects and the harsh calls of birds filled his ears In front of him a low slow covered with lush ferns led downward to a field of bright flowers
Beyond that lay heavy jungle thick with vines and humidity
Aether exploded outward from his position giving him a general feel for the surrounding area Although the location wasnÆt particularly mountainous within the Dungeon were several cracked and ancient hills that Randidly could spot As there was one nearby Randidly began to dash through the thick ferns grinning evilly at the rather loud noises the ferns made when shifted
Already the surrounding jungle was beginning to quiet down It seemed some predators had finally noticed his presence
From just a casual exploration when he arrived at the mound Randidly again wondered if his luck was finally coming through for him The mounds were strangely uniform but they were also oddly corroded as though there were monsters with acidic properties in the surrounding area Randidly tucked that tidbit of knowledge away as he inspected the corrosion Against all odds within those areas of corrosion there was copper
Not just copper A copper that was unnaturally hard to the point that Randidly would be confident using it as a substitute for iron Scratching his head Randidly looked around Somehow this jungle there was a feeling
that this Dungeon seemed very familiar
RandidlyÆs attention was dragged to a nearby tree when a Level 67 howler monkey pounded its chest in fury calling its fellow monkeys from the depths of the surrounding jungle Randidly unleashed another casual pulse of Aether Although there were dozens gathering from the surrounding trees there werenÆt so many that they would be able to swarm him
But what cemented the feeling was that Randidly detected several acidic toads perched on a boulder some distance away Although they lazily raised their heads at the monkeyÆs calls they ultimately settled back into their respective holes to doze
I suppose this isnÆt impossible but Randidly reflected as he reached up and snatched the howler monkey from the tree with a Reach of the Jade Slag This seems to just be a higher Level version of the same Dungeon where I started this strange journey underneath the System Too much to be a coincidence but I can feel my karma with this place By the time I returned to Earth from there I was ready to tackle all the changes that had occurred when the System arrived When I return this time I wonder how I will have changed
As more Howler monkeys gathered Randidly used Acri to scythe through them without difficulty He was nearing Level 48 but he was a little leery of gaining the final two Levels he was willing to gain in the Dungeon quite yet Although he had been previously distracted by the ore golems into killing them himself Randidly knew it would be better to feed all of the experience to Acri until he had the chance to give his Class a thorough checkup
Based on his estimates of the flow of Aether out of the Dungeon the time dilation between here and Earth would be extraordinarily high So much so that RandidlyÆs possible one month before the Judgement would descend could be stretched out to a dozen or so years
And that was on the conservative end of the estimation The problem of Aether Sickness generally kept people from abusing that function but Randidly didnÆt have any such qualms Unfortunately Randidly didnÆt intend to use the entire month for training
Lyra would come seek him out in six days Naffur and the Order Ducis would hopefully arrive at Erickson Steel headquarters around that same time bringing Nathan Randidly hadnÆt yet decided if he would try and condense his Fate before the fight against the Judgment but he certainly wanted to understand the details of a Fate as soon as possible Then he would be much better equipped to make that judgment call
Randidly sighed Strangely he missed the days where Lucretia was looking over his shoulder rolling her eyes at his occasional bad puns
Still RandidlyÆs understanding of Aether wasnÆt so exact that he could tell the exact difference in time And as his Absolute Time couldnÆt be extended to a different place it would only be able to tell how much time he experienced Therefore it would be rather cumbersome to determine the exact difference in time It was much easier to estimate and then make an educated guess on when to return
So Randidly set himself a time limit that made his mouth twist one year One year within this jungle based Dungeon would be all the time that Randidly allowed to refine himself and to build the foundation for his imagined version of Erickson Steel Less time than that wouldnÆt give him enough of an opportunity to truly grow familiar with his evolving images In addition that time would be plenty to thoroughly strip this Dungeon of all of its natural resources
More time than a year would be wasteful not only would Randidly eventually reach limits in terms in how he could refine his images without new outside inputs but also the threat of the Calamities cast a long shadow over him They could happen at any time
Randidly wanted to be on Earth and ready for when the new threats arrived Plus he wanted to have the chance to push Erickson Steel to the next level before that time In order to accomplish this Randidly would likely need to work tirelessly on Earth for quite some time There was only so much he could do for Erickson Steel from within the Dungeon To make them the wandering supplier that he imagined their forging abilities needed to shoot sharply upward