Randidly maintained his Fourth Authority like this in its base state trying to ascertain its exact effects Just from looking he saw the boost to growth that he released in the central area Honestly that effect had probably been active long before he had the authority Long before he had the Nether Core even The notification had been slightly conflicting but it did seem like Randidly would have never had inherited this spark if he didnÆt possess a similar proclivity
Perhaps from the presence of the Aether Crossroads I became accustomed to giving out energy That perspective became an outlook that became an image Randidly chewed on his lip as he cast his mind backward Still the more interesting fact might be that the last Origin Beast betrayed its ancestors and helped Elhume the one who engineered their destruction And then the Patron of the Deep died in the final process to release humanity throughout the Nexus
But like so much of the information IÆm learning itÆs hard to know what is propaganda and what is true Too much time has passed The Patrons might have been contemporaries but they werenÆt directly involved After all they donÆt even know what happened with the other Patrons who went to find that individual they needed to attack with the Hierarchy of Karma Then Randidly shook himself He could think more about the issues later Right now the Authority was his main focus
In its base form the animationÆ aura he released was large enough to cover the whole of the island With more attention he could swell it to many times that size Not quite enough to cover an entire planet but Randidly felt rather than being a hard limit it was only a matter of practice
It was another moment that briefly shook his heart Sometimes Randidly imagined he could turn around and find a massive body draconic and spined dragging its monstrous belly against the ground waiting behind him
CanÆt think about that too much tho Randidly thought sardonically Or it might become true
However when Randidly tried to focus on those other abilities he had sensed in that initial pulse his Nether Core began to shudder The edges of the silver patterns projected in the air around him began to hum Frowning Randidly calmed down his new Authority He spoke softly into the air trying to capture the sensation he had felt ItÆs like the Authority wants to know if it should activate And when I tell it to do it gently well obviously it canÆt be bothered for such a careful expression An Authority is not a mild force
He had some vague sense that there was a forcefield aspect and possible repulsion but he couldnÆt confirm it without letting the Authority loose He thought he could separate the three layers he had made but wasnÆt sure if missing a portion of that process would inflict damage on the people around him Randidly hummed for several seconds but allowed his hands to fall to the ground He could wait and try in a desolate place Instead his eyes went to the scars that flexed across his forearms with every movement
Alright Helen Randidly whispered to the air He pulled up the Skill description What did you get for me this time
(Domain) Mournful Sea HelenÆs Pernicious Riptide A powerful confluence of emotion currents and ripples that has housed itself in the userÆs body Warning if the user is not capable enough or possesses the requisite fortitude it is possible to destroy oneself with this Domain
The usage and activation of the Resonant Fangs remain a part of the Mournful Sea They can be activated to absorb one kinetic force An additional fang will be grown for each hundred Skill Level that the user accumulates In addition activation of either abilities from the left or right arms will spread the taint of blood through the air Area of effect increases with Skill Level The deeper the taint the greater the physical and mental boost the user will receive
UserÆs right arm now houses HelenÆs Pernicious Riptide Usage of this arm will also deepen the taint When Resonant Fangs absorb kinetic force a portion of that force and any associated images will be copied and briefly stored within the userÆs right arm Ability to fully copy images will grow due to userÆs inclination and Skill Level A myriad of images may be stored within the right arm at once The more images are stored there in a short time the more strain the userÆs body will be under Ability to contain images will grow with Skill Level
Upon activation of the right arm all stored kinetic force and images will be released in HelenÆs Riptide A manifestation of the GhosthoundÆs Bloody Knight will form wielding the captured images The strength of this manifestation depends on the depth of the taint Potency of the manifestation increases with Skill Level
Chapter 1936
On a high mountain pass in the southern wilderness an opaque block of ice began to tremble Flakes of snow slipped off its top The block itself sat in shadow Above an icy wind howled above the few places that bare rock jutted out from underneath the covering of snow The whole area seemed afflicted with the same sort of hypothermia all objects present altered between minute trembling and deathly stillness
The mountain top felt stark and desolate
The crack of the ice block beginning to fracture echoed out through the pass a halfhearted demonstration of life Several precarious piles of snow joined the trembling Most fell back into stillness A few shed a portion of their icy shelves in tiny avalanches collecting the shadowed gully Silently more cracks began to creep outward through the block of ice At the core some force was in furious motion
For three minutes the cracks proliferated Then all at once the ice tomb shattered in an eruption of gleaming shards
That damnable dragon Merrick Towns growled as he reached up and rubbed his spiky honey brown hair His hands were covered with flexible metal gloves that ended in curving daggers but he adroitly satisfied his itch without cutting into his skull Then he scowled around as though expecting to find the dragon waiting around with a smug expression on its face
The pass was empty except for wind snow and shadow
Merrick Towns ground his teeth and rubbed his hands against his arms He was supposed to be the most powerful man on the planet Almost a year ago he had won the fighting tournament and had been baptized in the cheering of the crowd High on that moment he had challenged Randidly Ghosthound himself to a duel and received deafening silence in response
Being only twenty five Merrick had responded to this dismissal with a scathing indictment of the balls of Randidly Ghosthound It had seemed to him that although none of the old legends of Expira had participated or any of the tournamentÆs previous winners he had earned some recognition for ending the tournament undefeated And to have not even a spare breath given to him
And then that dragon MerrickÆs skin began to steam his anger burning through the chill
After the tournament and his comments a Frost Dragon had tracked him down and insisted upon a duel Wanting to be nothing like Randidly Ghosthound Merrick had accepted with grace And been thoroughly flattened and frozen into an icicle It had taken him fully a week to break out of that frigid prison
It had been humiliating It had been illuminating at how mysterious the depths of Expira truly were
This time after ten months of training Merrick had purposefully sought out a dragon to have his revenge He was disappointed to find a younger specimen but still figured that beating this one would send the right sort of message that would eventually get back to his original opponent However despite all his extreme ice resistance training he had been beaten again