Randidly smiled Unfortunately IÆll be fulfilling an order for Foreman Davey tomorrow
Such an invitation is compulsory for those who do not possess Tier I citizenship Our orders come from a power much stronger than the Analytics team The man said with a sneer His partner regarded Randidly with a more mild gaze but the milder one was the more dangerous one for sure Still it rankled to have these two here to strong arm him
fine then Randidly said softly He could flee or resist but he truly had felt guilty about the fact he had so much power and didnÆt use it to help these people He could have prevented thousands of deaths These past few days he had been haunted by those lives And this haunting was far worse than it was when Randidly had killed the guards back in ShalÆs world as they escaped from the prison This was a different sort of guilt one he couldnÆt shake And it was affecting his image formation
Then Randidly made to close the door but the sneering guard stepped forward to block him Mr Erickson I trust you understand we cannot trust citizenship less individuals You havenÆt proven yourself to the country As such you will be staying in a holding
Oh RandidlyÆs voice was still soft but now his smile was reckless He opened up Indomitable Will of Yggdrasil and Cruel Indignation of Yggdrasil His whole bearing changed Around him he felt the illusion pulse and warp somewhat under the SkillÆs powerful effects But at that moment his eyes were emerald suns burning with a righteous fury But I donÆt want to And that is enough isnÆt it
Dull eyed the guard stumbled backward taking the Skills directly Immediately Randidly cut them off and turned to the other guard IÆll be there tomorrow Be safe friends
The other guard who had only been hit by the edge was still white But he gave Randidly a tight lipped nod as Randidly closed the door Frowning Randidly moved away and headed back to his metals The fact they had approached him here this wasnÆt a random thing Perhaps this was TatianaÆs warning finally coming to fruition Was someone within the government throwing him in harmÆs way as a favor for Tooya
Randidly hadnÆt seen the man or his brother around since the party Even Ricky Stain had left him alone although Randidly knew that the slimeball was still approaching other metal workers and getting them to go through him for their raw materials and sales As Randidly expected rumors had emerged that Ricky Stain provided raw ore that was of the most inferior grade and most everyone had distanced themselves from him
But there were always the desperate
As for the current problem the only question was whether the person who caused this would monitor his performance and attempt to hurt him more directly or whether this experience was enough
Randidly sighed Remaining low key was hard
Bulletsto ah fuck this
Hank stepped back waving his hands placatingly Grinning Kayle stopped and spun his knives across his fingers
Surrendering so soon That makes your record 0 and 10 against us Kayle said the gloating evident in his tone
1 and 1 and 9 Hank corrected for the millionth time
Kayle waved his hand airily The duel where you collapsed counted as a loss not a draw And also the win was against Vandal HeÆs just a kid But youÆve recovered well and you are much sharper now Excited to head back into the borderlands huh WeÆve finally been given orders to do a sweep through the edge of the Zone and find any more survivors It will be good to move on from this Ghostice
Hank nodded slowly It was time for their group to move on as well They had stayed here two weeks already first to allow him to recover from that close brush with a deadly Aether Starvation and then to give HankÆs group the chance to fight with the locals if they wished
It was a summarily humiliating experience Laurel had abstained preferring to talk with the Zone 32 mages as to their training methods But Affina Ezekiel and Hank when he recovered all challenged the various members of the other expedition
It quickly became apparent that there was a definite tier amongst the people and between the two groups At the bottom there was the average fighter from the buckle wearing town East End They were strong quick and competent but they were ultimately just grunt soldiers and HankÆs group didnÆt bother with them Above them there was a vast space with the Donnyton Squad members They each had different strengths but were mostly role players These too were ultimately set aside as opponents Beyond them lay the third tier and the place where Affina and Ezekiel found themselves suitably challenged That was Vandal the leader of Squad 29 and the two vice captains of the other Squads
These four were great at everything and incredible at their own individual area Fighting against them was usually a matter of a chess match where you would try and get the opportunity to take advantage of the area in which you were great and kept the opponent from doing the same
Hank especially after he had obtained the three new Skills and his evolved Soulskill found these four to be increasingly easy to suppress As he recovered and familiarized himself with his new tools he felt an increasing gap opening up between them Mostly Hank believed it was his new SoulSkill The Ballad of the Righteous Coyote He just felt grounded in a way that he had never previously Like he was connected to something bigger like the fabric of the worldÆs story was laid out before him
With his Soulskill he could understand a bit of what was occurring or about to occur in the world Knowing his role allowed Hank to exceed his normal performance He was poised and ready for any trouble the world might throw at him And in a strange way Hank felt he could lift his nose to the wind and smell trouble coming a mile off
Right now he smelled it both in front of him and behind him which was disturbing But his instincts seemed to push him forward Besides he had a responsibility to speak with the political leaders of this Donnyton This was his path
Well that was at least how it felt to Hank It was a nebulous thing this feeling his Soulskill gave him But it was delightful to feel
When he brought it up to Laurel she gave him a strange look then shrugged This gave him more worries than relief because she was the type that became extremely quiet and solemn only when she felt something serious was occurring When Hank asked Paolo and Kayle he received a much more direct answer
They exchanged knowing looks and then Kayle said YouÆll have to talk to Nathan if you want to know anything more specific but I suspect what you feel is a bit of pure Aether It will make the System more malleable to you for a while Relish this chance they are hard to come by
After some searching Hank had learned that Nathan had returned to the borderlands right after helping him He resolved himself to thank the kid when he came back through the borderlands
When Hank himself wasnÆt dueling he was watching other duels of all levels of strength and skill There were group battles too generally 5 on 5s between the Donnyton Squads and also between Donnyton and East End Although there was a powerful rivalry there was also an admirable comradery there But Hank supposed that was just the way it had to be between people of this level of strength Everyone knew how hard getting here was There was a respect for that
Hank tried the group fights once but it was a whole different animal In that match he was isolated from his squad and knocked out Luckily a woman who used two shields named Cassie smashed apart the enemy forces in the time it took for Hank to finally go down rendering his squad the victor
But the fun couldnÆt last It had been two weeks of training and it was time to move on When Hank counted up his PP his eyebrows rose precipitously He had gained almost 70 Skill Levels over these two weeks Most of it was in his new Skills but still
That was more PP than he had gained in any month for the past year and a half And that was with him spending most of the first week recovering in bed