Lucretia and the Patron of Blooms stepped out from behind a rock outcropping The Patron of Blooms spoke first her voice rich with faux concern You know that Nether Prince isnÆt truly Helen
After the aching introspection of RandidlyÆs last ten minutes it felt good to loose the reins he kept on his emotions and just burn with fury He might not have nailed the emotional affect for his various images but his efforts had certainly paid dividends in terms of potency His anger became a physical presence towering over the Patron and warping the ambiance of the ridge
The Patron of Blooms coughed to a stop and lowered her gaze With an empathetic glance at Randidly Lucretia gestured for him to pull it back For a second his temper flared again but he knew Lucretia was right and begrudgingly pulled back his fury The heavy pressure in the air vanished leaving the Patron of Blooms with an awkward smile as she stared at the ground
Actually we do know why those phenomena manifest around Nether Princes Lucretia said easily She gently waved at the Patron of Blooms She can explain better than I
RandidlyÆs gaze shifted to the plant woman who shifted uncomfortably underneath his scrutiny Whether it was her desire that he make more Soulseeds or the previous show of temper she was suddenly much more well behaved Ahem Well yes You know Nether Princes are actually a side effect of the Nexus being an isolated universe Elhume made arrangements to gather and recycle the souls and images of the weakest individuals and obviously took great care to ensure that no powerful images could escape his engine even by hiding away in the Tier III area well the attention to these areas meant that there is a small subset of the population that can escapeÆ in death
There are a few very special individuals who usually die early where their soul at the moment of death is more powerful than their image So when the System attempts to gather them they rip through the net A failure on one part of the System leads to a cascading series of failures even I donÆt quite understand the details The soul is too strong to be contained by the weakÆ net sent for them And therefore the image and the soul fall together tearing holes in the System all the way down until they crash into the edge of the Nexus
RandidlyÆs eyebrows rose with something akin to alarm Meanwhile the Patron of Blooms continued her explanation If that soul is weak the impact disperses it Problem solved But if that strange and perfect construct possesses enough integrity it rips a hole through the edge of the Nexus and escapes back to the original universe And the actual Nether Prince that we see The Patron of Blooms pointed to the sphere of darkness dancing with patterns Is a plug of significance the Nexus creates to stop itself from leaking out through these holes
A plug Randidly frowned
Mostly significance donated by the Nexus the Patron of Blooms nodded But of course the base is the individualÆs image it cannot follow the soul to escape the Nexus and is left behind And the Nexus engorges that image with significance to hold the gap Which is why the image eventually refines itself into something truly valuable with the image and the significance And I can already tell that HelenÆs remnant will be quite special
Randidly raised his head back and laughed So even in death Helen left one last fuck you for the Nexus huh
Even if he still felt alone he felt light If Helen tortured to death by Wick could still make trouble for the Nexus what excuse did he have
Chapter 1903
Nrorce sat on the warm sand just enjoying the sound of the tireless ocean expending itself on the shore He couldnÆt deny that the environment of this place was pleasant He came to explore the GhosthoundÆs world in an effort to understand the young man but also as a way to get away from his house so stuffed full of agonizing memories When Randidly offered someone to show him around Nrorce had snorted and left without answering
That departure had been relatively satisfying A small fistful of power that Nrorce had taken for himself Unfortunately he hadnÆt been able to escape the memories as easily as the nagging Randidly As the frothing water receded after each wave he could almost see tiny footprints chasing after the edge
Daddy daddy Look how fast I am The sea can never catch mee
His lips stretched almost unwillingly His body was honest even if his heart ached and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes And even if it does catch you IÆll always save you love
A cool dagger whispered open his chest and slid into his heart Nrorce narrowed his eyes and hunched his shoulders but otherwise didnÆt move as the emotions expended themselves It was not fair to say that Randidly had caused this pain if anything he had saved Nrorce from a slow necrotic death of ignoring the pain until it consumed his soul and left him empty a scarecrow tending his farm
Just the problem was now he had to face that pain every moment of every day
The soft patter of feet on sand distracted Nrorce from his anguish He considered fleeing knowing how Jekyll and hyde the population of this world could be when it came to unexpected non humanoids in their proximity He had already been glared out of several small establishments in the week he had been exploring Expira
If he hadnÆt been able to flare his image and cow most people of this world he suspected they might do worse than stare
But he was high on the dunes above the water and the noise came from below So he stayed still deciding to simply observe Yet what eventually passed below opened his eyes as widely as they would go
A young boy perhaps only ten loped down the beach with larger strides However his posture seemed agonizing He was bent sharply at the waist as he moved so that his torso was perpendicular to the ground Meanwhile his neck curled upward to allow him to see where he was traveling On his back was a massive backpack that was almost double the size of the boy And based on the way it bounced it was incredibly heavy
More than a child he resembled the long striding long necked flightless birds that NrorceÆs daughter always found delightful
His expression was bored but Nrorce didnÆt miss the way he adjusted his feet as the waves came running along the edges and following the receding water back toward the ocean in order to do it again
Even Nrorce couldnÆt really believe he started the interaction He raised his voice and called out to him Kid what the hell are you doing
The boy stopped his feet and twisted his neck around His feet skidded forward through the soft sand He blinked twice at the small blue goblin but quickly began marching toward him Unfortunately for the boy his burden was so heavy that each step he took up the slope of the sand dune had him sliding down just as far After about thirty seconds of just carving away at the side of the dune with no progress the boy took a few steps back got a running start then jumped the five meters up
He landed with a massive explosion of sand that sprayed NrorceÆs face and left him sputtering The dune underneath them trembled a little but didnÆt collapse Nodding to himself in satisfaction the boy took off his backpack and set it on the ground Only then he seemed to notice NrorceÆs efforts to get sand out of his eyes Oh apologies fair traveler You are actually my first customer so IÆm a bit nervous
Customer The goblin wrinkled his nose at the word but the boy had excitedly launched into a rehearsed speech without noticing
I may be a new arrival on the scene of competitive mount ing however I assure you that IÆve trained tirelessly to reach this point The childÆs eyes practically glowed as he looked at Nrorce My legs are strong IÆm good at conversation I have a compass My speeds are far higher than you could manage walking on your own and my company is golden
ArriettiÆs heart sank but they were already dragging him across the sand He didnÆt need an explanation of what the special break zone would entail Again he felt that thrill of panic that he would somehow reveal himself for a fraud in front of these enthusiastic powerhouses Err is that appropriate right now Also considering the strange storm over the island