Congratulations Your planet Expira has officially become a part of the Nexus As new citizens of the Nexus you will be subjected to periodic tests to determine your eligibility for benefits The first test will take the form of a great Calamity that will descend to Expira and attempt to lay waste to everything you have built
Congratulations The difficulty of your Calamity has been increased in proportion to the density of Aether on your planet The Calamity will arrive in 150 days Please prepare well
Chapter 1473
“Expira ” Tatiana spoke clearly as she glanced down at the clipboard that she held in front of herself They were in her office meeting at 10 A M sharp the day after the world was named and the first Calamity was announced Randidly knew that she checked the clipboard less because she needed the reminder but more because the habit of confirmation was so deeply ingrained into her person that she would be bewildered by the suggestion that she didn’t need to double check her work It was why she was so good at running Kharon “To expire or to exhale In a way certainly a morbid motif to associate with the world but considering your quest to destroy the Nexus “
There Tatiana paused in her unasked for explanation checking Randidly with the same relentless determination to confirm she showed toward her work Honestly Randidly couldn’t begrudge her this habit considering the difficulty of keeping up with his quick decisions the trait was a boon Then she set down her clipboard on her desk ” perhaps more relevantly one of the many ways to reference ghosts in Latin is expiravit A mouthful and one that would not translate well to the name of a world But Expira on the other hand “
“Stop trying to tease me The planet is already named ” Randidly shook his head unwilling to admit that he did feel quite a bit of awkwardness from the thought that Alana would have named the world after him “I know you brought me here for other reasons what did you want to tell me “
Chuckling Tatiana stood from her hefty leather chair and walked to the window She used just the tips of her fingers to grab the maroon drapes and drag them to the left to marginally lower the amount of light in the room Despite the fact that temperatures continued to remain low the sun was bright on the day after the duos tournament ended While walking over to the Town Hall Randidly had heard several people say the sun dawns on Expira Æ He had winced every time
Tatiana marginally adjusted the curtains a small amount further leaving her office mostly in cool shadow “I brought you here for three things First Donny invited you to dinner a week from today On your behalf I accepted You could stand to be more friendly toward Donnyton Secondly everything is prepared for our construction crews to begin work on the other floating islands As soon as you pick out the pieces of land and finalize the plans we can begin
“Finally I wanted to ask you officially as the head of Kharon’s government when Randidly Ghosthound planned on heading to the Nexus Through my Skill I can see some of your answer but what I feel is oddly unsatisfactory “
Randidly considered the question carefully like he was judging the attitude of a man he had never seen before Not that he didn’t have some inclinations as to how to answer the third question but he sensed his vague feelings wouldn’t be enough to ease the slight edge to Tatiana’s smile ” I certainly won’t be staying here until the First Calamity arrives My growth rate on Expira is quick but not as quick as it needs to be So I’ll remain long enough to get all the projects finalized but probably not longer than a month “
“If you really want to accelerate your growth rate relative to the base timeline why not spend some time in Dungeons ” Tatiana said Then she pursed her lips “While you are there you can help me with some of the details of Kharon Academy “
Randidly had to wince at that He briefly channeled Revelation energy giving him a little extra insight into how his additional work with the Kharon Academy project would influence it What few insights he gleaned by peering forward weren’t surprising but they still stung a slight amount Others would achieve much better results than he would It wasnÆt a problem of willingness to help on his part but perspective
What was needed was tools to help educate children and teenagers who were basically still near the normal capabilities of a human Randidly did not have much expertise in that area Or rather the methods that seemed natural to him were horrifying to others
Thanks Shal Randidly closed his eyes But it wasnÆt like his assistance would be completely useless “Tatiana you don’t have to hold back As much as I will grumble I can handle more of the work on these projects they are my brainchildren after all But as for my growth rate “
Randidly shook his head “A Dungeon would help me develop in specific ways I think the details of my images could be vastly improved and I can perhaps make some breakthroughs in Nether manipulation And those are important areas of my power But they aren’t the core of my identity that I’ve chosen That is my image physicalizations and utilizing multiple images and Skills at once And as for that I probably improved more during the fight against Kaan Swacc than I have before and since It isn’t an ability that you can practice alone or without the threat of death if I fail IÆve grown too used to the tension I need to ascend to the Nexus to find more difficult challenges “
“Pah ” Tatiana pressed her hands against the windowsill and leaned forward Her face was hidden in shadow “I do know what ascending will mean for your growth And I don’t really need help with the projects I just don’t want you to go It’s going to be hard without you “
“Hasn’t all the suffering I’ve put you through prepared you for this ” Randidly said gently Then he adopted an innocent expression “In fact you should probably be thanking me If not for how much suffering I’ve made you endure as you tried to keep up with me you would be “
Tatiana pulled a book off of a nearby bookshelf and flung it at Randidly like it was a frisbee A tremor ran through Randidly’s body and suddenly he was taller and slightly hunched over His joints ground into a new alignment As the book whizzed toward his face a tail of bone about two fingers thick flicked out from behind his head and caught the book a few inches from his face While his left eye was devoured by darkness he twisted the book so he could read the cover A Regression Analysis of the Danger of Unchecked Raid Bosses
Randidly raised an eyebrow “Sounds captivating But I bet the conclusion is that the best option is just to kill the monsters “
“You are blessed in many areas but I doubt you are as funny as you think you are Randidly Ghosthound ” Tatiana shook her head almost ruefully Then she walked over toward Randidly who was still in his physicalized image form The orb of melted light and darkness observed how Tatiana did her best not to tremble as she withstood the substantial pressure that Randidly’s images released And Randidly couldn’t help but love her for that attempt to make him feel normal These days he did his best not to dwell too long on his departure from human limits It was it filled him with an oddly bleak mood Like the individual he had become was so far removed from who he had been that he now human only in name
But that was the point Randidly said to himself I was unable to protect myself or the people I cared about before I havenÆt lost the Why of my transformation Even if I can no longer be considered the same person we want the same things I would have been happy to know that I have come this far ItÆs time to ascend to the Nexus
When she held out her hand Randidly released the images and the book fell into her palm She returned it to the shelf and slid the book into place Perhaps sensing the mood with that Skill of hers she was quiet for some time
Then she turned back to him and put her hands behind her back “Honestly that book is a quite self important text which comes to common sense conclusions But it gathered quite a lot of data to support those conclusions so there are many tools within it that allow you to identify how long a Raid Boss has been active based upon various signs in the area Certainly worth a read for anyone planning But anyway I can sense you have another reason for remaining on Earth One that seems quite unpredictable I can sense its shape but not itÆs origin Can you tell me what IÆm sensing “