The children quickly scattered back to their personal mud buildings going to the task of laying out bricks to dry in the sun with remarkable enthusiasm Elmer Arrietti politely wiped his mouth from invisible crumbs to give his hands something to do Well all of that was a bit unnecessary I just wished to compliment
The rest of his words were cut off as the familiar figure of Fenlin one of his most inept patrol officers stumbled down the slope toward the river Both Ed and Elmer watched the man who was covered in a mixture of mud and blood that made it seem like he had recently crawled out of a shallow grave rush past the mud brick huts and throw himself into the river
For almost a minute there was peace Both men sitting on the bench exchanged a glance and Elmer wondered if perhaps Fenlin had been so exhausted by AjaxÆs training schedule that he had come down to the river to seek sweet release However both witnesses to this act were also aware of the increased physical capacity that the System had brought so neither moved quite yet
And to repay their expectations Fenlin eventually drifted up out of the swiftly flowing river water and staggered back to shore The manÆs bleary eyes eventually settled on his small audience and widened in surprise Then specifically focusing on Elmer pride and respect emerged in his gaze
Commissioner Could you could you have already finished the training menu that Miss Helen created for you today Fenlin asked as he came closer
Elmer thought about that and glanced up toward GhosthoundÆs peak where powerful image reverberations continued to shake the surrounding terrain FenlinÆs assertion was likely inaccurate In a lot of ways First of all Helen didnÆt really seem to have any sort of training menu prepared for him she simply attacked Elmer with images and forced him to defend himself And also rather than finishing her training he had been knocked out by one of her attacks and woke up to find that she had vanished It was only when the fighting started on GhosthoundÆs peak that he realized where she had gone
Honestly he had been quite afraid that Helen had been so disgusted by his slow progress that she had given up on him ElmerÆs newest theory was that she had simply been so annoyed by his slow progress that she went to blow off some steam fighting the Ghosthound but at least she hadnÆt truly abandoned him
Yet a part of him quivered in fear as he realized that also meant his training would soon resume
Elmer coughed awkwardly Ah well Even training cannot last forever Sometimes you need a bit of time to recover your faculties how is your training coming along Fenlin
Fenlin looked at Elmer for a long time Then he swayed Then he began to cry Commissioner IÆm just a fraud I donÆt deserve to be here
ElmerÆs mouth twitched You somehow doesnÆt it feel like this young man is stealing my thunder
Chapter 1426
Within the Dungeon and without any pressing external threats Randidly easily fell into a very productive routine The days flowed ceaselessly past giving him the space and leisure to alternate between physically manifesting his images researching Engraving expanding plans for Kharon Academy and simply spending time refining the details of his images
Interspersed with these activities were clashes against Helen and rather long meetings with Gertrude and Sam Not that Randidly was complaining about the duoÆs enthusiasm for the subject matter but Gertrude especially sometimes made Randidly regret inviting her into the Dungeon She seemed to take a great deal of joy in deconstructing his rather haphazard previous plans for the Academy and listing a litany of terrible consequences that would have resulted without her input on the current project
Truthfully she also taught Randidly quite a bit about teaching But it did feel like it was a matter that could have been addressed in a more delicate manner Randidly didnÆt mean to claim he had any idea what he was doing when he arranged for KharonÆs education system They had just needed something
On top of his flattened mountain peak Randidly shook his head and stood He raised his arms and enjoyed the pleasant sensation of his shoulder and neck popping The sun was just now peeking above the horizon and it was time to finish with his meditative recovery session It had been one month since the group had come into the Dungeon and the benefits were starting to pile up
ThereÆs nothing better than being able to train for an extended period of time Randidly reflected as he watched the light of the dawn filtering down into the valley below
The Riders had basically explored the whole of the Dungeon at this point and were now beginning to gather the more valuable raw materials for later use Although Sam had dragged his feet in agreeing to throw his support behind the Kharon Academy project he was delighted to experiment with some of the raw materials in an effort to refine them into an even more powerful form This experimentation continued to the point that Randidly worried what amount of materials would remain when they left the Dungeon
Randidly didnÆt spend much time observing the thirty two children that they had brought but Gertrude seemed extremely pleased with their progress Apparently Ed Dugg was an excellent teacher aside from the fact that he often included irrelevant information as important as he taught
RandidlyÆs focus was mainly on TimÆs growth And according to Lucretia what Tim didnÆt possess in talent he made up with hard work
The Kharon police force was improving quickly as well But to be fair it would be shocking if they didnÆt improve with Helen and Ajax lighting a fire under their asses It was only because everyone around him fell so naturally into training that Randidly had a lot of time to dedicate to his own pursuits
Specifically the balancing of his three images
A month had seen Randidly progress from barely able to balance his images while fighting to being at least able to dodge and lash out at enemies while maintaining his manifested image form Basic Skill use no longer destabilized his efforts in a split second The reflection chamber of the Xyrt Brigade was invaluable in this effort With it Randidly could get a better grasp of the base balance at any time and would recover more quickly during his training attempts
Of course Randidly was also aware that his increasing success rate was also related to the fact that his images were altering the Aether within the Dungeon He was somewhat helpless in the face of this fact He could limit the spread of his image by focusing on it but it made it that much more difficult to keep his images balanced while a portion of his Willpower was keeping his influence under control
After a few days of reflection Randidly had decided that it was better to train himself than worry about the environment in the Dungeon So he shrugged his shoulders and let it happen Instead he continued to practice He hadnÆt started activating multiple Skills and images at once but soon he felt confident he could reach that point
In his body RandidlyÆs three images were gradually settling together in a harmonious form
Plus the physical effects of this training were soon making themselves known Even Randidly was slightly alarmed at how physically powerful he was becoming Although his Stats didnÆt change every movement of his carried with it the passive hint of his three images More than a hint at this point it seemed the specter of the Grim Chimera cast a long shadow over each of his limbs His gaze pierced with the horrible cravings of the Stillborn Phoenix Each beat of his heart sent a golden pulse through RandidlyÆs veins
His images were becoming an increasingly large part of his daily life As such even a basic attack had the characteristics of a pseudo Skill The power he could wield with a simple movement could shatter space if he wasnÆt paying close attention