puddles4263
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Chapter 1228
🕑 Added 2019-12-06 02:03:44 +0000 UTCToC: https://www.patreon.com/posts/23899958
The day Vualla left for her training was a strained moment for Randidly. They met alone, on the edges of the old supply track and looked at each other for a long time. Those same unsaid conversations from Ileot’s alcove hung between them. Both were awkward about saying goodbyes, so neither gave breath to the anxieties that they each felt. Even though Randidly was almost furiously determined not to simply let her go without saying anything, reality proved that some issues couldn’t be overcome even with Stats.
They hugged, they kissed, and then she was gone, taking the Ileot’s corpse with her to free up the original Vualla before she proceeded to report to the Xyrt Brigade.
Randidly had watched Vualla leave and thought of all the things he could have said. Even then, watching her departing back, very few things came to his mind. But Randidly could tell from the sweat on his palms that he should have said something more.
Turning away, Randidly tried to comfort himself. It’s not like this is the last time I see her. And Vualla is strong. Strong enough to overpower the original Vualla’s attempt at possessing her. Even if there are dangers in the Xyrt Brigade, she can handle them. After all, compared to me, her image is extremely powerful…
The week of sparring had actually been quite eye-opening for Randidly. True, reaching the Nether Gatekeeper density made it extremely difficult for Vualla to injure his physical body, but she routinely overpowered his image. Leveraging his advantage in terms of Mana-efficient Skills could distract Vualla enough for Randidly to take the initiative, but all of his images paled in comparison to Vualla’s rapidly developing image of physical motion.
That explosive destruction that could be produced by a body seemed to be constantly improving. It bruised the Grim Chimera, extinguished the flames of Ignition Essence, and blasted away the bark of Yggdrasil.
Vualla’s finally tapping into her potential and making full use of her advantages. I might have more advantages, but I’m still trying to find the perfect way to utilize each of them… Plus I’m working on three images at once… Despite the resulting existential dread, it might be nice to have a duplicated version of myself that could give me some pointers about making more better images...
Jokes aside, her performance in the spars made Randidly increasingly focused on growing stronger. After watching Vualla stride confidently off toward the military checkpoint, Randidly returned to the gathering area that he had agreed on with Heiffal. When he arrived, there were almost seven hundred individuals carrying leather backpacks and gripping their weapons in white-knuckled fists. Zauna and Salazar were there as well, which had Randidly raising his eyebrows at his two direct subordinates.
Because shock immediately surfaced in his heart upon seeing them; the duo had recovered their bodies. Considering the fact that most of Lord Miln’s headquarters had been ransacked and destroyed, Randidly began to suspect that it wasn’t Nether Beasts that so perfectly annihilated Lord Miln’s research.
Randidly tried his best to smile innocently. If they didn’t want to bring up recovering their bodies, Randidly wasn’t going to grill them over it. “Is being my assistants such a bad job that you're pledging your services to Heiffal here?”
“W-w-we w-would like to c-come as well,” Salazar mumbled when he felt Randidly’s amused stare.
Randidly could only shake his head helplessly. It was already a gamble to create so many Aether connections. Even adding two more made him hesitate. “The whole reason I’m sending this bunch to Earth ahead of me is so that none of the Xyrt Brigade notice missing troops. The final reports on casualty numbers are due next week. So they need to be gone as soon as possible.”
“W-we can be d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-”
Sighing, Randidly waved Salazar to stop so he wouldn’t be eternally struck on the inauspicious word ‘dead’. “But I’ve already reported both of you alive. It’s not that I don’t value everything that you’ve done for me, it’s just that you’ll likely be pursued.”
Salazar’s scaly face fell, but Zauna stepped forward and passed Randidly a bit of paper. After scanning it, Randidly could only chuckle bitterly. It was a form detailing that Lady Iellaya, Supreme Commander of the Forefather Frontline, had honorably discharged Zuana and Salazar due to their exemplary behavior in the wake of the Nether King’s attack. There were several paragraphs detailing their contribution to the forces of Aether, but Randidly didn’t bother to read them closely.
Guess this solves the mystery of what happened to Lord Miln’s base. Must be nice not to have your activities catch the notice of military high command. Grimacing, Randidly rubbed the growing stubble on his cheeks. I know that Lady Iellaya said that the increase in our service time was a punishment for the disappearance of ileot’s body, but in light of that, I’m surprised Lady Iellaya’s request to pardon the rest of these two’s service time went through without a hitch. After all, they are my direct subordinates…
...is this some kind of trap…?
But perhaps it was just as simple as Lady Iellaya had stated it was; they had been punished, so afterward the high command didn’t really concern themselves with ‘unrelated’ parties. Obtaining the service of four powerful individuals for a few more years was benefit enough for the high command to consider the issue resolved.
“...well, either way, I suspect you two will head out with me later. Lady Iellaya had a good point; I should be seen passing through the military checkpoint before I disappear rather than letting them know I can build a bridge from everywhere. So bad news Heiffal, you’ll still be in charge for the next few weeks. Do you remember your orders?”
Heiffal nodded seriously. “Proceed directly to Kharon, looking for Helen, Naffur, or Tatiana. They will establish our identity in Kharon and let us know the situation in the surrounding area. Afterward, help train the people of Kharon and the Order Ducis to use images. Assist them, but only handle only minor problems or those that appear too powerful to normally appear on a world that hasn’t yet experienced a Calamity.”
“Cool,” Randidly said lightly. Then he pulled the Philosopher’s Key from his belt and pushed it forward. When he found the line of karma that led to the Earth, Randidly turned the key and opened a hanging portal in the air in front of him.
Congratulations! Your Fate the Philosopher’s Key has grown to Level 91!
Getting close to a hundred… I wonder what sort of item I’ll get next… Then Randidly’s lips twisted. Still, these last nine Levels will probably be the most difficult… Also, I wonder how long it takes most people to finish Leveling their Fate up to 100…?
In case there was currently someone from the Xyrt Brigade keeping track of Randidly’s position, he didn’t dare step through the portal. So instead, he stood right at the edge and allowed his Grim Intuition to flow outward into the surrounding area on the Earth-side. He felt the activity of the Order Ducis suppressing Raid Bosses and a small village nearby. Randidly also felt the swirling activity around Kharon.
As he had sensed in the Eidolon Crucible about a week ago, it appeared that the number of people present in Kharon had almost doubled since Kharon had begun its journey. The moving city seemed to be functioning at something close to its maximum population capacity. For whatever reason, there had been a large influx of people into Kharon recently. This caused Randidly to frown slightly because his directives he had left for Tatiana were exactly to avoid this kind of thing. Due precisely to the worry that the image would waver when too many new people were mixed into the population at once.
Still, Randidly trusted Tatiana enough that he didn’t bother to find out right now what had happened to cause this; he would hear the reason in a few weeks when he returned to Earth. Instead, he simply let his Grim Intuition spread out and tasted the image that was present above the moving city animated by his living Engraving.
Randidly closed his eyes and felt the effect his Eidolon Crucible had on correcting the image of Kharon.
The hesitation was still there but Randidly was able to sense more details of the situation. There had been a loss recently. Well, not a loss. But something that had made all of Kharon acknowledge the ugly truth that even with all of their capability, it wasn’t enough. So after building itself up that image of success in the hearts of the people of Kharon, they had failed and been devastated by that.
Randidly knew that sorrow and sense of helplessness intimately. He struggled against it himself in the previous battle between Ileot Swacc and the Nether King. But after the Eidolon Crucible, he felt the thoughts of the people of Kharon slowly shifting.
...So what if we failed? We are not proud because we always succeed. No, the reason we are proud is because of the work we’ve put into bettering our world. Regardless of the result, the effort will not go to waste as long as we keep trying.
‘We aren’t doing enough’ is never a reason to cease our activities. It’s the reminder we need to reinforce our resolve.
Releasing a breath, Randidly stood to the side and allowed Heiffal and the other duplicated individuals who agreed to follow Randidly walk through to Earth. Afterward, he calmly closed the portal and returned to his tent.
In the days before his vacation would begin, Randidly divided his time between training with the new versions of Acri and Sulfur, working on his images, and understanding his Fate. Time quickly passed as he busied himself. As he expected, through two weeks of dedicated work Randidly only received one more Level to his Fate, bringing him to 92.
But after one of the days of training his image, Randidly sensed two individuals approach to his tent. So he released the handful of his Ignition Essence that he cradled in his hand and walked to the door to the tent to look out.
He wasn’t surprised to see the wistful faces of Nadia and Kailm when he left his tent. They greeted him politely, but it was clear that what led the couple here was not the desire to converse with Randidly, but rather because they were drawn here by the familiar remnants of Illym that now suffused Randidly’s Ignition Essence image.
Very quickly, the couple turned to go, but some trace of bitterness in Randidly’s heart compelled him to vocalize a question that had been bothering him for a while. “Nadia, Kailm… if you don’t mind me asking… why didn’t you use the liquid Aether of the Fate armory to help defend the front line?”
The two exchanged a glance, then Kailm slowly spoke. “Two reasons. The first is more selfish, I suppose. Using liquid Aether that someone else refined can be… dangerous. The image inside of the liquid Aether, if it's sufficiently different from your own, will warp your Skills and images. It’s akin to starting a fire in the middle of your living room to try and warm the house; it will work, but there will consequences depending on whether your home was designed for such a thing.
“And secondly…” Kailm glanced at Nadia. His wife looked at Kailm with tired eyes. “...secondly, we might be able to manipulate the liquid Aether, but it does not belong to us; it comes directly from the Nexus. And in the Nexus’ eyes… that liquid Aether is more valuable than all our lives put together. Being the caretaker of the Aether now is a result of us going deep in the Nexus’ debt as we tried to… help our daughters. We are bound to protect the Aether even at the cost of our lives.”
“Wasn’t the Fate armory almost destroyed?” Randidly asked in confusion.
Finally, Nadia spoke. “Nether Kings are frightful, but they are nothing compared to the Nexus that designed this System. Never forget that, Randidly Ghosthound. Please, protect the remnants of our daughter.”
Comments
Thundermike00
Because he opens a way towards his cohort through his key. If it wasn't for his key what you say would be correct.
Silver Beard
Bit confused about something. The duplicates, his subordinates, etc. are from higher ‘earlier’ cohorts seemingly... so how can he send them to Earth which is in Cohort 7? Was rereading the book... (my own .word copy) and came across that reference from Lucretia... “You can strive toward the Nexus but can’t fall behind...or something like” Exactly how are these ‘duplicates’ or others supposed to survive/thrive in the lowest cohort?!
EnigmaticOne
Actually they were yeah.
PuDDleS4263
No I knew that it was somewhere, but I didn't remember the name and couldn't find it when the Thief came back. Thanks for looking it up though!
PuDDleS4263
Hey welcome! I usually post four thousand words or two chapters five days a week.
PuDDleS4263
Added some sentences about the bodies thing. Just forgot to include details about it
Joel Sasmad
No
Joel Sasmad
I'm pretty sure they aren't. Salazar tells stories about being born naturally and his ability to stabilize things is the result of him using an image. Zuana was dead rock guys cousin. They are aliens not images.
Scott Frederiksen
If by ghosts you mean the duplicates, they're not going to his AC like his Tellus girl did. He's directly portaling them via his fate. Unless I'm missing the issue.
Alexander Dupree
@PuDDleS4263 So I am rereading the whole serial and I noticed some inconsistencies. You give the Thief from his soul skill two names and both times ask RG to remember them. The first is when he saves her life after she steals the Devourer spear pinning Lucretia. Its Thalia or something (I don't remember).
Ignorantmenace
Puddles normally posts 2 a day
Ignorantmenace
Monday through Saturday usually
Kalsted
My face of happiness when I catch up and saw 200 chapters in patreon, sadly I'll be joining the slow crave now which days do chapters usually come out?
Choboman
For one, Ilieot's only 'mostly dead' (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OnlyMostlyDead). If the system recovered him he'd be back on his feet quickly. Also, they want to use his body in order to free Vualla's original body, and they can't do that if the system takes him.
Adam Roundfield
Pretty sure Randidly can get around that little obstacle after he figured out how to flavor his own liquid aether. I suspect those limitations on aether are created by the nexus, probably with this same flavoring method.
Adam Roundfield
The thing about having a bunch of super powerful generals around is that they are not going to want to give up their power, which they would be required to do if the war was won. The show must go on...
Michael Ox
I think I missed why they are hiding Ilieots body? Is it because they don't want evidence they fought a comrade?
CentaureHeart
Weren't Zauna and Salazar images like RG at first ?
Subliminary
I had totally forgotten that Salazar and Zauna were images. I think Puddles may have as well xD
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
EnigmaticOne
I don't think the aether concentration is a problem. They're not powerful enough to make use of all the Aether anyways. Even if they were as powerful as Ileot Swacc I still don't think it would affect them much. Illeot Swacc drained himself to a husk in the middle of a void of aetherless space. And he almost restored himself by closing in on the Aether right outside the Nether which I imagine is pretty sparse compared to actual worlds in the Nexus. I attribute that to him being able to gather Aether at a rate proportionate to his power level so following that people will be able to gather enough Aether for their individual needs as long as the Aether is available. Even if the aether is not as dense per square meter as other worlds might be as long as the Aether isn't finite like in a closed off dungeon they shouldn't die. Aether sickness at most. But then again they've been on the frontlines the whole time, I'd imagine they'd actually flourish on Earth instead in comparison. The body thing is something I would also like to know though. They can't all have been ghosts, some of them had to have actually been images seperated from real life heretics right? So which are Salazar and Zauna? They seem to be images so where are their bodies?
Chris
Really good chapter, but aren't the Ghosts from high Aether worlds? I can imagine them going to the AC because you wrote it before with Tellus. Earth's aether should kill them based on what you wrote before. The second thing is when did Salazar and Zauna get bodies or can images survive on their own? Rg had to give the spearmans image a connection. If their real bodies were locked up by Milin that place was destroyed.
Alexander Dupree
Thanks for the chapter
