Mana was still present in the drawn lines but it was curiously inert Even he felt confusion as he attempted to study the phenomenon with the limited senses he had How could shape and Mana be present but the whole working not actually do anything
The woman pressed her lips together DonÆt give me that shit You think normal Engravings just stop working so quickly You slept by the corner and I heard you crying Randy I know you canÆt control yourself when you are upset you just suck and suck without even thinking God damnit
Randy hesitated and then spoke with all the presence of wind blowing a newspaper across the ground I didnÆt mean
Yea and I didnÆt mean to agree to take responsibility for a liability like you The woman shook her head and turned away Fuck I really donÆt need this shit Not right now not with the tariffs to get back into the Zones coming up If I donÆt find some good work soon
The woman gave the child a meaningful glance Then she climbed into the wagon and closed the door behind her with a swish of the hips For a few seconds Randy just stared blankly at the wooden material Then their eyes fell to the broken Engraving Then they became abruptly aware of the hard stares coming from some of the dirty groups sitting around the fire and fled for one of the low hills above their camping position Only when those flinty eyes above soup cans no longer following them could they relax
Randidly observed feeling something twist in his gut He delicately examined the young child feeling the worst parts of the Stillborn Phoenix and the Grey Creature existed in this RandyÆs chest Just in small nascent forms but she truly possessed the ability to absorb something vital from nearby spaces
It was he had to admit a fascinating ability
He watched Randy do it as they stacked rocks threw fistfuls of dirt up in the air and occasionally stared back down at the wagon The area around her lost some of its forced vibrancy It didnÆt exactly damage the surroundings but the hardened dirt reinforced by the constant Aether reverted to a more fragile form
Yet it was only when night fell and the apron walked back out that Randidly could see the other connection between himself and the child
Crouching in the hills Randy pressed hands to their ears as the woman laughed loudly at the jokes from dirty men from the campfires below At the end of the night the woman led a man back into the wagon and RandyÆs tears pooled in the dirt
Randidly felt his mind trembling begging him to relent and release his grasp on the torrent of sensations that pummeled him Yet he didnÆt relent Stubborn and furious watched this young stranger cry themselves to sleep and remembered some hollow nights from his own childhood
Chapter 1922
Gasping Randidly returned to his body still smoking at the edges and trailing searing colors that clung to him as he came back from the dark side of the moon His feet managed two steps away from the portals his shoulders and arms leaking orange and violet Then he keeled sideways and flopped on the ground surprised by how clammy and unresponsive his limbs had become His vision spun twisting his stomach and ringing out nausea
His tongue felt like a rotting whale simultaneously dehydrated and slimy
Randidly rolled onto his back and looked up at the circle of pure blue sky that peeked through the Nether Storm above his island Yet after only a few seconds he had to squint and press his eyes shut to stifle the flashes of pain that cracked through his brain Gradually the sensation that someone had dumped his brain into a blender and flicked the switch to frothyÆ faded A smile tugged at the corners of his troublesome mouth Certainly pushed it a bit far by plugging myself into the Nether Ritual for so long
His words ended in a wince His overtaxed brain seemed to be bubbling feeding him a confusing array of images and memories A cold wind brushed across his skin raising goosebumps An ominous ticking thudded against his eardrums the powerful reverberation from a clock the size of an entire planet His awareness felt fuzzy For a second Randidly began to levitate away from physical sensation he was unbound by shape entirely He had to press his right hand flat against the ground and squeeze his fingers together to ground himself
A swirling purple/black hovered against the inside of his eyelids leaking out like some sort of cursed tears
Unwilling to take all these horrible exhaustion pains without some sort of response Randidly stuck his tongue out toward the sky Mental note that weird things happen when a mind powerful enough to create world altering images gets a little weird when its starts to short circuit
The color flashes and distortions in the air around him were growing stronger It was like his mind attempted to project its subconscious images on the surrounding space as it did during most of his life Yet now without any mental potency remaining it could only toss out scraps and misshapen pieces of those images before it sputtered and crashed Each failed attempt to spread the image made some small alterations to the pieces leading to more and more exaggerated failures
A weird emerald stain started to creep across the ground near RandidlyÆs bare feet The black tears were running down his cheeks
Grimacing Randidly sat up The world whirled in glorious and drunken exultation at the move forcing Randidly to press his eyes shut for several more long seconds as he tried to resist his bodyÆs impulse to collapse Eventually he gathered enough of himself to suck in a shuddering gasp The air helped a little bit and soon he felt grounded enough to breathe in another way
Congratulations Your Skill the World Tree Sips from Every Realm has grown to Level 719
Randidly pulled with his Skill surprised at how much he needed in order to keep his functioning going for a few more minutes The plant collective the rapidly breeding colony of ants and the individuals on the beach barely managed to quench his thirst for mental acuity And he could feel several of the weaker individuals stagger and collapse bearing a portion of his immense sense of being spent
Obviously I have capabilities that are beyond what this group could accomplish even working in tandem Randidly mused But that also means that the expenditure to keep my brain running without a hitch is staggering The fact that acquiring fuel hasnÆt been a problem is one of the great secrets to my existence Hell if I didnÆt have access to my own Aether
Well my experience with the System would likely have been very different
Still for the moment all his supporters managed to delay his shuddering collapse into an unconscious pile of muscle and mental jelly The fires had burnt low but the coals were strong enough for him to continue Which was enough for Randidly to square his shoulders and reach into his Nether Core for the connection he had discovered with this depressing child Randy
He straightened and stretched his joints complaining of the unaddressed sense of strain that pervaded every inch of him Yet very quickly he stilled and just looked at the weirdly stained emerald patch of ground with a sour expression on his face His immediate impulse was to just go and rescue the kid from their situation but Randidly also remembered that sense of powerlessness and being adrift His shoulders rolled inward as his own memories provided some context to that experience
Nothing would bring me greater pleasure The small monkey gave a drumroll off its belly Meanwhile he could feel the monkeyÆs mind whirling Perhaps due to its proximity to Randidly it gathered significance to itself
After shaking his head Randidly continued to speak In addition her capabilities are very special Dangerous if used without thought but fascinating if you consider some applications IÆd like for you to push the child to use their abilities in a certain way We will be in constant contact so if you have any questions just reach out and I will assist you
Nothing brings me more pleasure than having your voice in my head Then the monkey twisted his head rotating his head almost 180 degrees so his face as he looked at Randidly was upside down Besides I am at the age where I must find my own place in the vines and create a nest Only then will I be able to start bringing mates back and strike out on my own