With a sigh Wilbur pushed the ticket across the table toward Vye Nostalgia is a strange thing Even though we werenÆt close you are the only living link to my previous life Vye IÆm about to have a son in this fucked up world HeÆs going to need to live here and IÆm going to pray every day that he doesnÆt piss off the wrong Level 50 Barbarian or wander into a Raid Boss nest
WilburÆs hand clenched into fists If I help you now someday you might be able to help him And then he will save someone else and humanity
Shaking his head Wilbur seemed abruptly exhausted by his previous emotions Well I donÆt know much about humanity But you remind me that things were once better and that can happen again So think of it as an investment in the world for my sonÆs sake You always had too many ideas to just be buried on the project team of some corporate schmuck We need people like you Vye Out there given wings to make the world a better place So this is just me with paste and feathers
After ten seconds Vye nodded and took the certificate Her hands were trembling What ah have you picked out a name for your son
WilburÆs wide smile made a sudden comeback Heh Marry isnÆt such a fan but I really want to name him Wilbur Jr To preserve the noodle shop legacy
Vye eyes tightened as she resisted an urge to groan audibly You are still such a douche
Chapter 979
Randidly sat cross legged in the training field portion of his underground base Around him a rustling sea of leaves seethed Whereas his previous World Tree images were only composed of a single large tree now Yggdrasil was surrounded by millions of inferior trees all with their branches twisted up in worship
From the green canopies of the lesser trees that gnarled and luminous trunk of Yggdrasil emerged a towering pillar that was so wide it was difficult to imagine its true size
From beneath him in the depths of the ground a terrible rumbling roar echoed upward in contrast to the serene swaying of the trees RandidlyÆs eyebrow twitched as he struggled to stay focused on his image in the face of the noise The second layer of his base that Randidly had constructed seemed to be possessed by an infinite spirit of wrath constantly bellowing the liquefied fury of its existence directly upward toward Randidly
Training in the face of a distraction must be helpful Randidly thought rather tiredly Honestly the noise was a rather unfortunate side effect of another project altogether And at this point it seemed a waste to stop that project just so Randidly didnÆt have to deal with a noise which wasnÆt exactly incompatible with his World Tree image So Randidly just buckled down and focused
Randidly had been training within the Dungeon for almost a month now While he remained at the base bands of a dozen or so Riders of the Baleful Court roamed farther and farther afield to slay and return monster bones to him
Which was also because the monsters had been driven away by the god awful rumbling At first Randidly had been worried about the capabilities of the Riders as his Skill Level was only 89 but those fears proved groundless
Not only did the Riders become increasingly adept at combat the longer that they were summoned but they were quickly settling into ranks Of the thirty two Riders that Randidly currently had within the Dungeon seven were at what Randidly associated with the Lieutenant tier from Tellus They served as aides to the main leaders with extreme ease
And of these leaders there were two Their mounts were even longer and more unusual looking than their fellow Riders as they galloped with their slender limbs covered in wicked horns of obsidian They wielded two lances with preternatural grace and were constantly attempting to make the other look incompetent
Sighing Randidly shook his head It had become something of a problem He wasnÆt sure where this competitive drive came from but both groups of sixteen Riders had taken one of the nearby other mounds as their personal base The only reason that Randidly allowed it was to harvest the special copper and to see if there was an arrow at the core of those mounds
As it turned out there was an arrow at the core of every one all pointing in the same general direction This didnÆt do much to improve RandidlyÆs mood but he simply resolved himself to investigate it after he had accomplished the main goals he had in coming into this Dungeon
But the Riders didnÆt care about his growing irritation Thankfully they competed by bringing Randidly increasingly high Level monster bodies or special flowers fruits or ores that they found by wandering through the surrounding area So it wasnÆt as if he gained nothing out of the arrangement
As a reward for these brave activities the only thing the Riders ever requested was for Randidly to modify their base to be larger or more prestigious looking than the opposing group of Riders Finding himself suddenly thrust into the role of architect Randidly did his best
With RandidlyÆs small and carefully repaired mound was in the center two guard outpostsÆ emerged that dominated the nearby area of the jungle Some distance to RandidlyÆs North was a tall and sprawling medieval castle complete with banners that the Riders had somehow sewn from the skin of the slain monsters The Riders had taken to taking their mounts up onto the battlements gazing cooly out into the surrounding canopy that completely blocked their vision
To RandidlyÆs South was a more amorphous dwelling composed primarily of the dyed silk of some spider monster that the Riders had miraculously domesticated Their billowing multicolored tents and bonfires seemed a much weaker defense than the castle but Randidly had casually scanned the area with Aether and had been horrified by the complexity and number of traps that lurked within the campÆs boundaries
Seriously why am I the only one who seems to be focusing on training while we are here Randidly sighed Unfortunately the thundering roar from below smothered the released air Shaking his head Randidly set everything to the side and refocused on the image of Yggdrasil
With great care Randidly floated through the lower trees to stand right next to the World Tree When his hands caressed the bark that familiar understanding and warmth flowed into him Sighing Randidly spread his image even farther allowing the edges of it to disperse into the surrounding area Including that ageless monolith
Like an infant after eating a meal Yggdrasil cooed in pleasure as it slowly absorbed that air of timelessness RandidlyÆs smile was sharp ItÆs taken a while but IÆve finally found the Path forward
The current training facility had been transformed by his presence here for the past month Perhaps more than anything else the constant presence of Ignition of the Emerald Essence had flooded the training area with the nurturing energy that plants craved Already the walls were covered in moss and mushrooms In the area directly around Randidly many luminous flowers had begun to grow in order to absorb the radiation he naturally threw off while he was deep in the image of the World Tree
Although the plants possessed no true intelligence they stretched upward yearning to be closer to the World Tree It was due to that reaction that Randidly felt a grim sense of satisfaction So day after day he let the Grim Chimera wait while he worked on Yggdrasil
The more Randidly pushed the more Randidly felt close to pushing his image of the World Tree to the next Level As he had learned from Skarch on Tellus images could be strengthened in many ways But the most reliable was familiarity and specificity However Randidly’s past month of training had not been simple
For almost the first two weeks in the Dungeon Randidly had worked hard to improve both of those two criteria
It soon became apparent however that familiarity was a dead end for him
Unlike Skarch Randidly couldnÆtÆ simply take out his spear and run his hands across it in order to understand how his image should be formed Familiarity was hard to come by Although he had been informed by mythology ultimately he was using his own imagination to create something There wasnÆt any ideal version of the World Tree that Randidly could examine in order to check the progress of his image