Congratulations! Your Skill Ghosthound’s Green Thumb (L) has grown to Level 702!

Congratulations! Your Skill Heritage of the Origin Beast (T) has grown to Level 650!

Randidly sat back on his heels in front of the carrot patch, nodding with relish at the thick and healthy root vegetable he pulled out of the ground. He tossed it in the basket with others and surveyed the pitted remnants of the ground; the harvest was done. It was time for the group to head into Malloon. Currents of significance were steadily gathering over the central city. Historical events picked up once more.

“Will you two be alright here alone?” Demetrius asked Armel and Bogart. But of course, his attention fixated on his grandson.

The young man folded his arms across his chest and just snorted. Armel’s smile was quite nervous. “Yes, I will just feel better staying here. Begging your Pardon Mister Nether King, but even with your protection, I don’t want to accidentally cross paths with Drane Swacc while traveling through Malloon. He… he always finds a way to get what he wants. And since he wants me dead-”

Randidly stood and nodded. “That’s smart. You’ll be safe on the farm. I’ve put up a few defensive Nether Rituals, but also the Arakis Beasts have been informed to attack and devour any strangers that try and infiltrate the farm. Each dead body is worth a full Ara Fruit. Make sure they get their reward if there are any”

One of the three Arakis Beast that imprinted on Randidly licked its lips nearby. He pivoted and clicked its tongue at it. “What are you getting excited for? I thought the three of you wanted to follow me?”

The Arakis Beast mewed and flipped over onto its back, only a few pounds shy of being the size of a horse yet still trying to act cute in front of him. Randidly rolled his eyes and rubbed its belly for a few seconds. Despite the rough scales covering the rest of it, the belly was soft and warm. Then he patted its side and straightened. “Alright, all we need to do is harvest the lumber cucumbers and we are ready to go.”

“So, it comes time to receive the ground’s lucrative bounty,” Jotem drifted over with dollar signs in his eyes. He let a slow breath out from his nose and raised his hands like the maestro of a symphony. “To be sure, our act of generosity by housing the Miracles-”

Which Devick paid for, Randidly mused. At a premium, from the way Armel built their little lodge so enthusiastically. Not really very generous of us at all.

“-might have expended some of our developing investment, yet do not fear. I would like to posit something quite radical: the true investments are relationships. And by extending a warm hand to those in need-”

Randidly just turned away and hopped toward the lumber cucumber fields, his three Arakis Beasts racing each other to keep up. It was almost like the more people ignored him, the more Jotem felt driven to bridge that gap with flowery language and strange and poorly timed declarations.

Some days, he almost wished he had just did as Drane Swacc asked and killed him. Yet simultaneously, he could also lay these emotions at the feet of his own newly-faced rage.

Of course, the modern Randidly who had handled three of his sinister emotional cores understood this wasn’t a sustainable pace; he would need to face the problem directly and talk to Jotem about his coping mechanisms to avoid snapping at him.

But he wasn’t a saint; he would probably ask Demetrius to do it.

Once he arrived at the field which he planned on ‘clear-cutting’, Randidly wasted no time in beginning to rip the giant cucumbers out of the ground. He had four patches in a tight formation: one group of original recipe lumber, one infused with energy from Yggdrasil, one stuffed with all the emotional force he could pack into them before they ruptured, and one with Randidly’s blood included in their water.

Ripping them out of the ground, he was almost disappointed by what he found. His senses told him that they all possessed very different internal compositions, but the outside rind was uniformly the same grey-green. He carefully stacked them in different piles inside of his interspatial ring, planning to experiment with each in Malloon.

Congratulations! Your Skill Infinite Incendiary Filaments of the Dove Moirae (P)(U) has grown to Level 1063!

“Dear god,” Jotem whispered as he watched Randidly work. “The sheer volume of materials… I had known you had a knack for discovering them, but this quantity will crush the market- just five of these cucumbers will make as much as all the carrots we’ve grown put together! Another entire Mallon could be carved from these pillars!”

“Excellent.” Randidly grinned. Each of the four orchards possessed a little less than two hundred massive cucumbers. He smacked his hands together to shake off the last of the dirt. “Because I’ve been thinking quite a lot about our grudge against Drane Swacc. Do you know where he makes most of his profit these days?”

“Err… please excuse my humble correction, Nether King,” Jotem looked at Randidly with obvious pity in his eyes. Rage growled in Randidly’s gut, despite his best efforts. “In spite of your many other gifts, if you believe lumber to be one of his ventures, your talents as a mercantile individual-- perhaps such pursuits should simply be left-”

“He makes his money,” Randidly interrupted. He took the last of each bunch and sliced it cleanly down the middle. He plucked out the tiny seeds and tossed them by the handful up into the air. Although it shook the memory slightly, he activated his Nether Core’s First Authority and Seized the air currents. Like dutiful soldiers, the seeds marched themselves back into the holes their grown versions had just vacated. “By acting as a middleman between other firms in the economy. I don’t know how he managed to corner the market so thoroughly, but I suspect he has someone in his employ working customs on Malloon. Producers go to him to sell their raw materials and shops use him to distribute their finished products. At this point, he is just the easiest option; if you want something, Drane Swacc will have it.”

Randidly released a pulse of Origin Beast energy into the soil, to replace all the nutrients sucked out by the previous batch. It made sense that there wasn’t a large supply of these; they were very harsh on the soil. He straightened and looked at Jotem. “From what you’ve told me, the fines for bringing goods into Malloon without paying the tariffs are quite steep. I don’t mean to challenge the city directly and Swacc won’t let us off on such an easy angle. So we just need to make sure we can bring legally bring the lumber into the city without having to pay any taxes on it.”

“I might have had some minor dabblings in the barrister arts, so I can say with confidence that such a feat is impossible.” Jotem declared.

Randidly chuckled. “Because all you are doing is thinking in terms of profit. We won’t be trying to sell the lumber: we will be donating it to Malloon in its time of need. They have so many individuals flocking to the city for the tournament and the upcoming trial that people are just squatting outside the gates, living with the infernal grinding of Malloon’s defensive barrier. And while they are out there, unregulated and untaxed markets spring up. Smaller scale, so not truly worth cracking down, but it must be quite aggravating to have a meal walk up to your mouth and stop right outside the teeth.”

“...certainly a donation will be favorably received,” Jotem frowned. “But surely you realize there is no room within the city limits; it was due to that very reason that Swacc so venomously sought to drive me-”

“I’ll handle that. I have experience in making space when a ground area runs out,” Randidly said. He jabbed a finger at Jotem. “But I do need one thing from you.”

“Oh? Heh, I suspected this day was coming, that you would be so impressed with my abilities you sought to recruit me into your service. I am not sure about the process of Phaea, but I gladly accept,” Jotem bowed. “In the interest of accuracy, I was hoping I might earn a term for my position, perhaps earl-”

“Let’s wait a bit on that,” Randidly said. He tucked that term away; Mae Myrna also offered to help him with Phaea. He would need to ask Demetrius about the term. “What I need from you… is to arrange me a meeting with Faelmac Westrisser. Considering your connections, that should be easy, no?”

*****

“We cannot trust the Nether King,” Jawem said in a low voice. His eyes scanned the horizon, always on the lookout for threats to his charge. “Why is he alone? Has he only the two supporters, despite his apparent power? And his arrival in our home city was quite suspicious; perhaps the interaction with those two Nether Kings years ago was all a charade. You must admit his sudden disappearance was quite-”

“You shouldn’t say things like that about him,” Devick said seriously. The two walked at the head of the team’s column as they proceeded to Malloon. She glanced sideways at Jawem. Her eyes twinkled with mirth. “You realize he’s the man I will someday marry, right? Oh, a fruit cart! I hope they have some of that Zhixu stuff.”

With that, Devick skipped ahead, leaving a pale and worried Jawem in her wake. He stroked the feathers along his arms to calm himself down. His heart was pounding. Considering her capricious nature, surely she was kidding, because she knew it would nettle him.

Right?

When Byuresk had allowed Devick to go on this whimsical adventure, it had been for two reasons. First, because he felt guilty he so publicly offered her to the Nether Kings. Despite the practicality of the move, his popularity amongst the city’s populace had reached an all-time low. The lovely Devick slumping about and sighing dramatically while gazing out windows wasn’t helping the situation. And secondly, because her fixation remained on the mysterious Nether King Hungry Eye and Byuresk wanted her not to be present if that dangerous fellow ever wandered back into town.

If Jawem, the guard Byuresk had found and placed within the team to guard her, allowed her both to meet and marry Nether King Hungry Eye, Jawem might as well take his own life. It was better than returning and casting himself upon Byuresk’s mercy.

“Tsk, apparently Zhixu is incredibly rare,” A pouting Devick slumped back over to the group. She took a bite of a purchased apple, grimaced at the taste, and tossed it over to one of the other players. The rest of the team gradually caught up to them. Quick as a flash, she brightened as she looked around at them all. “Well, no reason to stay down about it. Team-building exercise! Everyone gather around.”

About half the group groaned audibly at those fearsome words, but still everyone gathered. Devick’s manic and abrupt training sessions she described as ‘team-building exercises’ were legendarily exhausting. However, the frequent competitions to push themselves to the limits stopped feeling so pointless when they started easily winning their Hobfootie matches. For these unaffiliated individuals who were raised poor, the payday from a victory stampeded over most complaints.

Devick lifted a finger. “Let’s keep it simple. A footrace! All the way to Malloon! The last half of the team will do some fast-and-slow runs tonight. Ah, but I know what you are thinking: Jawem and I have been winning waaay too much these past few exercises. Fear no longer! Look what I got from the Nether Warrior Bogart!”

With a flourish, Devick produced five worn leather vests.

“What, bad fashion sense?” One of the players joked. Many guffawed.

Devick’s smile grew. “Hehehe, Tell, how nice of you to volunteer to wear one! Here, take the lightest. I’ll do the next up, and the heaviest for you, Jawem. You’ve been winning too much.” She distributed the two and put away the extras. She slipped into the vest and patted it on the chest. “Just press here to activate it- ooof, hah, this is going to be a treat! Alright, begin!”

“These are clearly engraved,” Jawem muttered to himself as the entire team bolted forward without giving him a chance to put his on. Tell staggered past to try and keep up with the group, but Jawem took his time; he wasn’t just a little better trained than these individuals. From birth, he had been raised by Byuresk to be a shadow. “How does a Nether King have engraved items…?”

Sighing to himself, Jawem activated the vest. And immediately collapsed to the ground.

“These vests… are clearly designed for individuals with Classes!” He gurgled.