Yet Randidly found nothing unusual
At nights Randidly returned to his base and worked on Engravings Most of it was dedicated to Levelable Engravings but Randidly also worked on his basics He returned to the animalistic inspired Engravings that would boost a single Stat and focused on improving his ability to produce each one After careful practice Randidly created Engravings of that type at the tier of VII which granted almost one hundred stats with just the Engraving
It was a time consuming process but RandidlyÆs understanding of Engravings slowly deepened Through the night he worked under the emerald light of Ignition Essence and continued to explore the ancient encyclopedias he had been given on Tellus His second time reading through them was perhaps even more inspirational than the first
As he proceeded to learn about the study the strange perspective based meaning of Engravings Randidly felt doors in his mind opening Connections that Randidly hadnÆt made in the past were slowly emerging Just like with all the battles that Randidly fought his haphazard and frantic Engraving left him with a lot of half learned lessons As he gradually solidified his understanding those unrefined benefits naturally emerged
A week had passed since Randidly had noticed his gradual relaxation The entire while a portion of RandidlyÆs focus was occupied by monitoring himself His great fear was that without the constant presence of a threat moving closer RandidlyÆs progress would stagnate His internal ambition would dull and stall out
If his body grew too used to peaceful training he wouldnÆt be prepared to return to the real world where the threat of the System was very real and very dangerous Even the smallest stumble before the SystemÆs test would doom the Earth He couldnÆt afford to slacken at this point in the process
What Randidly found ultimately made him shake his head wryly I should have expected this ItÆs the mental equivalent of exercise Too much exercise the bodyÆs resources cannot be replenished in time which leads to stymied growth The exercise loses most of its benefits
Only after a long rest after the body restocks its resources can more muscle be efficiently created But of course too much rest leads to fat
Right now my growth for the forging and Engraving related Skills are exploding because that restored mental resources finally has let me make connections I had been blinded to see previously But without the constant threats spurring me forward progress in combat related Skills has somewhat slowed And that will only get worse
Scratching his head Randidly stood and then stretched Just another thing I need to balance Most people canÆt overindulge in Dungeons as I can but IÆll have to be aware of the possibility in the future
Chapter 983
Next up The bearded man announced as two janitors were using large brushes to scrub away the stain of blood from the arena floor Jerrick and Aldo
Vye released another small sigh Although there were barely any participants left who had not been called her name was not announced Not her turn yet She still had time to prepare More time to struggle against the question of what her image would be
I still have time
Vye looked up toward a wide window at the side of the arena and out into the cloudless sky At her core she yearned to be out there moving frantically in a mad dash toward the horizon Chasing after the setting sun That ThatÆs all I want Does that count as an image
Jerrick turned out to be an extremely muscular man carrying two heavy axes that looked like they had seen frequent use Aldo meanwhile
When seen out of the corner of her eye Aldo seemed to familiar that Vye jerked around to look at him But on closer inspection Vye was left rather nonplussed why Aldo had seemed so familiar to her
He was tall but not too tall Muscular but not too muscular And honestly he was altogether extremely messy His hair was sticking out in several directions and his jaw was covered in a few days worth of stubble His clothes were worn through an extended period of heavy use But most of all
Then Vye blinked Aldo was barefoot
Aldo casually brandished a spearÆ Which was in fact just a branch that appeared to have been sharpened to a point Blinking several times Vye realized why he looked so familiar when you barely looked at him at all and let your focus narrow solely onto his bare feet
He certainly had a certain surface level similarity to Randidly Ghosthound
It seemed that Vye wasnÆt the only person who noticed the passing resemblance The bearded man seemed torn for several seconds after Aldo casually walked onto the arena and then hesitantly said Aldo are you sure you donÆt want any foot protection for the challenge
Aldo looked over coolly to the bearded man some secrets you canÆt experience until you expose yourself to the world Some primal powers are too raw for the fearful to grasp through gloved hands
Everyone fell into a slightly awkward silence for several seconds Then the bearded man shrugged helplessly Well it is your decision
Without waiting for any more strange comments from Aldo the bearded man swiftly signaled the start of the duel Despite the fact that none of the earlier fights had done anything but make her more nervous about her own time in the arena Vye found her attention being dragged to the messy and barefoot man with a branch for a weapon
Compared to JerrickÆs brutal axes a branch seemed unable to do much to alter the outcome of the fight And Jerrick wasted no time rushing forward to close the distance and ensure that he could bring his superior weapons to bear
Aldo barely even seemed to notice With narrowed eyes he calmly walked forward to meet his foe
And as Vye watched the subtle movements of his feet her jaw dropped
There certainly was something powerful about the way Aldo was moving toward Jerrick AldoÆs leg muscles were clearly flexing and pulling but he kept his bare feet on the ground the whole time But he continued to zig zag lazily forward to meet his foe More than anything else it reminded Vye of the slow and graceful movements of ice skating
But how could Aldo skate across the dirty and pitted ground of the arena without any trouble
Beware if I use my full strength I cannot guarantee your safety Aldo bellowed JerrickÆs eyes tightened in fury but he didnÆt say anything in response It seemed that he was competent enough that he had noticed the strange movements of Aldo as well His mad charge slowed down as he considered the unpredictable movements
As they neared the moment seemed to stretch Then as if due to some hidden signal both individuals accelerated toward each other But Aldo moved so quickly in those last moments that Jerrick seemed to be standing still
By spinning around JerrickÆs slash Aldo built up a fearsome momentum His spear swept outward only to
VyeÆs jaw popped from hanging open for too long When AldoÆs spear struck Jerrick the sharpened blade didnÆt even pierce through the skin Like an ordinary twig the spear cracked in the middle and shattered into several pieces
Without missing a beat Aldo flipped the broken spear shaft in his right and brutally stabbed it into JerrickÆs bicep Although the blade wasnÆt sharp enough for a slash it seemed that the broken wood was sturdy enough to be used as a dagger At the same time Aldo stretched his left hand out into the air and produced another sharpened branch from his interspatial ring
Bellowing in fury Jerrick seemed to transform into a tornado of steel and bloodlust But Aldo calmly weaved through each of the strikes cracked his weapon over JerrickÆs body and then methodically stabbed the broken pieces into his opponent
After about twenty broken spears and there were a dozen short wooden shafts were leaking blood out of JerrickÆs body the muscular man clearly showed signs of nearing the end of his Stamina His exhales were huge explosions of compressed air his chest erratically rising and falling as he struggled to recover his energy
You you Jerrick spluttered through gritted teeth
Shaking his head sadly Aldo regarded his exhausted opponent Do you see Unless you remove your boots and experience the baptism of the EarthÆs natural energies in what world could you have defeated me