Randidly ca back to himself slowly, fully reveling in the sense of peace that was now radiating outward from his Soulspace. Although the damage to his Class was still painful, the harmony amongst his images following his previous actions was palpable. It muted the pain and hastened the recovery.
Now that balance had returned, Randidly could move forward.
It wasn’t so much that the image of the Grim Chira itself was in any danger of taking over his body, as he had implied to the Grim Chira when interacting with it. Although images were powerful, Randidly was not under any sort of delusion that his images were currently so powerful that they were tangible enough to actually exist outside of him. That simply was a problem that was thankfully still in his future.
No, the issue was that images relied very heavily on certain perspectives and traits to gather their potency. While Randidly used those images, those traits were magnified in order to strengthen the image. Constantly magnifying those sorts of traits, in this case the feeling of anger and isolation that Randidly carried with him every mont, had consequences for his psyche. As these negative emotions were indulged, it beca almost habit to rely upon these traits in real life situations where they were more dangerous than helpful.
And as Randidly had co to Erickson Steel to act as a leader, the Grim Chira definitely needed to be massaged back to only a small portion of his personality. Although that darkness existed inside of him, that was not all he was.
His interactions these past few days had felt extrely draining and stilted. Even if Randidly wasn’t the most social person in the world, it occurred to him that this might be a deeper problem than just a Donnyton hangover. In order to build this company into the traveling source of value that Randidly imagined, he needed to be able to interact with them directly.
Therefore, it had been ti to demonstrate to the Grim Chira the realities of their relative strengths.
So although Randidly had actually fought against his own image, in a sense, he had really addressed the tight knot of emotions that the Grim Chira represented in order to relieve so of the tension…
Scratching his head, Randidly couldn’t help but wince. When emotions get tied up in images and taphors, my sense of self becos way too confusing...
Anyway, there wasn’t really any need to go into a deep psycho-analysis of himself at the mont. It was enough to accept the fact that pacifying his negative traits exemplified by the Grim Chira was a victory. However, it had also impressed upon Randidly that rather than continuing to empower Yggdrasil, working on his Ignition Essence might be just as fruitful for his tasks here with Erickson Steel.
Those strange and enlightening erald flas served as the buffer between his two images, the glue that held his disparate pieces of personality together. If he could strengthen that image, Randidly believed that the other things that he wanted to accomplish with Erickson Steel would be much easier. Perhaps interactions would not be so strained. Plus, being able to manipulate the extrely hot flas would help him imnsely in the forging process.
Chuckling to himself, Randidly stood and stretched. But there is only so much ti in the day. I can’t simply work on everything. Ignition Essence certainly is a part of . A strong part. Just hard to know how much I can force that image to grow in the short term.
But it was a possibility that he would consider.
For now, Randidly looked around the room and at the several samples of tals that Mark had provided for him from Erickson Steel’s current production. Frowning, Randidly thought for several seconds about how to test the materials. Then he walked over to the table and peered at the various samples.
From the labeling provided, the tals provided fell into three categories: civilian use, mass-produced, and high-end. Of the categories, most of Erickson Steel’s money ca from the sale of high-end materials, because that was the area that they had the biggest advantage.
Randidly spent a small amount of ti playing with the mass-produced tals, but he directly skipped the civilian use. He wasn’t very interested in looking at the basic tals made by his company. It was enough that they were competitive, focusing overmuch on basic products seed like a poor investnt. After all, Randidly believed that the quality of their base tal would increase if he could jumpstart innovation at the top end. A complicated refining process could be streamlined and simplified to affect the bottom line in the future.
In industry, if not in economics, progress tended to trickle down into the consur sphere quite well.
For the mass-produced tals, it quickly beca clear that Randidly was physically able to bend the tals with his bare hands. It took so effort and it was slow, but the material was definitely not durable enough for him to bother with it at all. If his grip could warp it, there wasn’t any point in putting the tal under any sort of rigorous testing. Instead, Randidly simply used his Ignition Essence to lt the tal, taking care to note the general temperature where the tal was completely lted.
Finally, Randidly arrived at the high-end products. There were three varieties provided, likely from Erickson Steel’s most skilled craftspeople. Each was a variation on the sa the that Randidly had previously pioneered: a mixture of tal with refined materials from monsters. A the that seed to have not been sniffed out by the competition.
Which likely has made people focus too much on the bones, Randidly thought with a sigh as he considered the examples. When they really needed to work on their own basic Skills...
One bar of tal appeared closer to a crystal than a true tal. Another seed as dense and heavy as lead. The third was covered by a very general engraving, and there was an included note that stated that the engraving was impressed upon the tal while it was still in liquid form to aid in its resilience.
That, at least, was sothing that piqued his interest. Randidly wondered how the individual was able to affix the engraving in liquid tal. Maybe a special processing area?
For reference, Randidly produced a single bar of the tal that he had made in order to construct his tallic left arm. Then he proceeded to test each one.
It took five minutes for Randidly to throw his hands up in the air. He glared at Acri. “Would you stop being so sharp?!? How am I supposed to judge the differences if you can just easily cut through them all?!?”
Acri looked relatively chagrined, shaking its head sadly at its master’s disappointnt. It was clear that the spear felt very guilty about it, so Randidly regarded Acri with suspicion. Through their connection, Acri sent Randidly a stream of information in an attempt to explain.
As it turned out, it had an epiphany in the fight against Donnyton. After that evolution, it was able to steal experience directly from victims it attacked without needing to kill them. Therefore, it had greedily devoured quite a bit of experience from the people of Donnyton who dared challenge Randidly. There were, however, strange limits that Acri could not understand. People possessed varying amounts of experience that it could steal, although this amount was not related to that person’s strength.
...Perhaps Acri can take experience, but not reduce soone’s Level… Randidly thought in awe, looking at this innocuous looking branch/snake/spear. It wiggled guilty under his fierce observation. Then Randidly couldn’t help but release a low giggle. I can imagine so Squader’s horror when an entire Level’s worth of experience disappeared in the fight against … They certainly won’t be willing to attempt that again anyti soon. I suppose I’ll just consider it my paynt for teaching them so thoroughly about images.
Acri continued to wait for Randidly’s judgnt, hoping he would agree that it wasn’t at fault for being sharper than this tal. Randidly glanced at his own bar. Acri had left a deep gash from a single slash, but it had only pierced about one-fourth of the way through the tal. As for the others… they had been completely sliced in half. The sliced portions were so glossy and smooth that they sparkled.
Randidly considered lting them as well, but he shook his head. Waving airly, he gestured in a manner that conveyed that he was relieving Acri of all responsibility. The spear gleefully curled around his waist. Then Randidly turned to the sliced tals.
This is just a waste of ti, Randidly finally decided. He had co to see if there had been any interesting innovations, but it seed like there was just the process of putting an engraving in the liquid tal. And from what Randidly could tell from his basic test, the benefit was extrely small. So small to make it indistinguishable from the uninteresting thods used by the other slters to make their own signature tal.
With a shake of his head, Randidly turned his attention back inward to his Path screen. The mory of that strange being within the vast crystal caused him to freeze for a second, but a surge of resolve erged within his chest. I won’t reach that Level of ability by cowering fear. I need to advance. After working on my forging process, it might be worth it to hole up in a Dungeon for a while… the Judgent can definitely arrive in a Dungeon, but since it is based on a dwindling ti, is that ti my ti or the world’s ti? I’ll have to test it…
...if I can delay by spending ti in a Dungeon…
When Randidly attempted to pour PP into his Growth of Yggdrasil Path, he received a notification that made him want to pull out his hair.
Growth of Yggdrasil III is not yet ready! Please germinate for an additional 27 days, then the Path will be prepared.
“Fuck ,” Randidly muttered. When he had checked earlier, he had sensed that raising his Stats would open up his Path. But now that he examined the feeling more carefully and translated the constructs of Aether, it seed that increasing his Stats would only lower the amount of ti that Randidly needed to wait. It wouldn’t rid the Path of its gestation period altogether.
“So now…” Randidly looked bitterly at his Path screen. “Do I save this thirteen hundred PP for 27 days from now, or do I get another one of those 1000 PP Paths…?”
Ultimately, Randidly swore quietly several more tis and walked the circuit of the room for several minutes. When no obvious answer manifested itself, Randidly walked out of the small room without making a decision. Spending ti simply sitting around and considering right now felt like a waste of ti. It was enough to now know that the decision was one that he needed to make. Although the Judgent was coming, it wasn’t coming suddenly.
Randidly’s attention again shifted inward. Rather than his Soulspace, he examined the constructs of Aether that the System had constructed around him, including the probe left by Octavius Shrike and the looming Judgent. After a brief examination, Randidly could feel that his actions thus far shifted the tiline up. In three or four weeks, the Judgent would co.
Like Lyra’s proposal, the issue of whether to use the PP imdiately would be put on the back-burner while he focused on other issues. Hopefully, clarity would co from giving himself so space and perspective on the question.
Mark jumped to his feet when Randidly walked out of the room. “Mr. Ghosthound! Have you finished already? It has only been about twenty minutes-”
“Yep,” Randidly said lightly, although he inwardly cursed the fact he hadn’t thought to check his Absolute Timing before blandly walking out. Part of his haste was because he had mistakenly been under the impression his fight against the Grim Chira had taken quite a while. “Thanks for the help. Is there a room where I can work on so forging?”
“Ah! Yes, everything is prepared.” Mark bowed. “You will not be disturbed while you work. I have personally arranged the details. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.”
Those words gave Randidly pause. Not because this man was obviously a leech-like being worthy of disdain, but because it gave him an idea. An idea that caused the blood to imdiately drain from his face.
But Randidly gritted his teeth. If you want to be a leader… you need to lead.
“Actually… would there be any way that you could broadcast my forging?”
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