When he spoke now NaffurÆs voice was low and persuasive Nothing is as important as spirit and dedication Nothing is as important as that precious inner drive that propels you forward That image you hold in your chest for your own future thatÆs what I hope you show us in your duels Give us a hint of the ideal you present in your heart The You that has succeeded The stronger that feeling you can project is the more we the Order Ducis will be moved
We intend to allow ten individuals into the selection for the Order Ducis Nine of those spots will be filled but for one of you perhaps your fate will change today Good luck
After a short nod Naffur Suite turned around and stiffly marched back to his companions Some of his solemn air was completely dispersed when the young boy who had accompanied him enthusiastically grinned at him and pounded on his shoulder in a job well doneÆ kind of way Blushing Naffur coughed into his hand
But Vye stood frozen The image I hold in my chest for my future
Her gaze sank toward the ground Around her the participants began to whisper to each other in excitement
I just I just want to be free I want the sky to stretch endlessly above me I want to never need to be in someone elseÆs debt I
Without waiting for Vye the people around her surged toward the table prepared to reveal their Stats and Skills in order to catch the eye of someone in power
Although the three day agreement with the mollusks had expired yesterday Randidly hadnÆt yet resumed his forging of metals In fact underneath the star filled sky those other concerns seemed to slip away Inside the Dungeon it was easy to feel distant from the other concerns and live in the moment
Randidly currently held a rather hastily created metal forearm bracer in his hands With incredible delicacy Randidly flicked the piece of armor and listened to the sound of its resonance
Randidly stared at it for a long time measuring the shape of it carefully calculating the curve of its structure In his head a meticulous 3D image of the bracer was slowly being constructed With his new capabilities after he reached Control of 1000 it didnÆt take very long for the model that Randidly made in his mind to reach a satisfactory level
Sighing Randidly raised his right hand The pointer finger began to glow blue as Mana concentrated into a razor sharp point When his hand moved a blue trail lingered in the air for several seconds before slowly dispersing into glittering motes of ambient Mana
Randidly pressed his finger against the bracer and began to Engrave
The great trick of creating an engraving that possessed the ability to Level was to create a symbol that made sense at both the micro and macro levels The micro levels would slowly be filled with energy while the Skill contained within the equipment would Level The Macro Level was the worldÆ constructed within the equipment where the Skill would actually exist
This relationship would continue in theory to the point where the micro image became the entire world However none of RandidlyÆs previous experiments had made it to that as of yet
A powerful Skill was very possible to make with Engraving Already Randidly had thought about several variations of his metallic left arm that he could make that would improve his combat ability The current Skill in his left arm was slowly being left behind by the capability of his Descent of the Grim Chimera Skillset and image At this point there wasnÆt much of a benefit to mixing it into his fighting style
Better to forget it and wait for the opportunity to improve his metallic arm
But again Randidly was still fascinated by the possibility of creating a Skill in a piece of equipment that could grow with him Ideally a Skill that would fill in some of the gaps in his own abilities so it wouldnÆt just serve as a redundant alternative
Although as time passes it feels like I have less and less glaring deficiencies in the way I fight Randidly reflected Then he imagined ShalÆs amusement and the subsequent brutal training session if he would realize that Randidly had that thought But who knows if that’s just from fighting rather weak enemies for too long
The Level of the monsters in the Dungeon was slowly ticking up as Randidly released Aether but it had become clear that the Level increase didnÆt do much to actually increase the monsterÆs strength They were inflating like a balloon but the substance of what the monsters were didnÆt change much
Randidly suspected that there might be some more qualitative evolutions eventually but at this point it was just increased Level and weird extra limbs
Grimacing Randidly felt a pang of worry for Shal What did Lyra know
With another sigh Randidly gritted his teeth and forced those thoughts to fall away He was in the Dungeon far from those concerns He had time to prepare and think through his actions His finger still glowing with Mana was poised over the bracer Once his mind was clear once more Randidly continued with the process of engraving
One thing at a time Randidly thought to himself
The image he chose this time was a twisted claw somewhat based on the Descent of the Grim Chimera It was a swirling series of twisted lines that was relatively simple to draw and that mixed well in high numbers to make a mesmerizing whirlpool of lines that drew in the eye
Humming to himself Randidly casually went through the process of engraving With his new skill with Control Randidly was having a much easier time maintaining a uniform level of depth to each of his strokes of the Engraving Because he didnÆt attempt to push the depth very far the ultimate limit of the SkillÆs growth wouldnÆt be too impressive but this was an exercise in consistency
Randidly believed that what he needed right now was more experience successfully understanding the process of creating a Levelable Engraving He had time nine and a half more months of remaining within this Dungeon in which he could further work on creating the product he would be able to use for quite some time
Now was the process of building his foundations
After about an hour of engraving Randidly grunted in satisfaction and tossed the bracer to the side It clattered into a meter tall pile of similar bracers laying scattered next to them Each glittered with the tell tale glow of a powerful engraving Each was covered with a different rune that skittered spider like across the whole of the bracer
Next to that pile was a smaller pile filled with cracked and partially melted bracers RandidlyÆs failures
Not all of RandidlyÆs attempts so far had been successful but his current success rate was about 75% at this point And considering that each of these attempts was made with a rune that Randidly had never worked with before Randidly was quite satisfied
Randidly produced another bracer and studied it for a long time When he had finished constructing the mental model Randidly looked upward and chewed his lip as he considered what sort of Skill to try and create this time
After a few minutes passed in stillness RandidlyÆs emerald eyes began to glow A thin kernel of Mana condensed on his finger and he began to smoothly draw
Chapter 982
Within the Dungeon time flowed onward without pause while Randidly immersed himself in training
It had now been four months since Randidly had entered into the Dungeon In the areas of Skill usage image integrity and Skill Level Randidly experienced rather constant improvements Although he hadnÆt had much actual combat with any sort of opponents that could be considered a true challenge for him he still hadnÆt hit the wall of plateauing in his growth
Which Randidly reflected spoke to how many difficult challenges he had fought through in the last several months without having time to really internalize the lessons he had gathered from those conflicts
Every time RandidlyÆs focus was drifting away from the task at hand AegiantÆs cruel smile would appear in his mind Or a cold fist of ice would grip his heart as Randidly thought about Donnyton attempting to fight against the Calamity with their shallow images Or jagged daggers of fear would slide between RandidlyÆs ribs as he thought about Octavius warning of individuals from the Nexus watching him or Lyra knowing what had occurred with Shal in the strange trial after the Second Calamity