Randidly didn’t really understand what was happening, but he could feel its effects. One by one, certain images that he held within his heart were emphasized, growing in strength and power, beginning to dominate portions of his grove of the Forest of Enmity.

Idly, he mentally tapped his chin considering these influences. His mind was foggy, and his vision was slightly blurry, but there was a sharp, incisive intuition that warned him of these strange influences in his mind. Almost bleary, he considered them with suspicion. The notifications he received didn’t exactly ease his worries, but it certainly gave him focus.

The Class “Planting of the Forest of Enmity” is being created! Calculating parameters…

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

‘Foreign influence…’ Randidly narrowed his eyes, his animal instincts immediately diagnosing this threat, examining what was happening. He could feel the changes, dimly. Already, the Class was connecting itself with his soul space, even while his consciousness remained sucked into the anchor, allowing the entirety of the process to flow through him.

But as Randidly monitored the changes as closely as he could through his senses, he gradually came to accept what was happening. There was a resolve, in this addition to a deep sense of responsibility towards his fellow humans. It flowed slowly into him. Or rather… he could slowly feel that part of himself coming into focus. If it was a color inside of his personality, it did not grow, as he would have expected, or move to a more prominent part of himself, but simply increased the vibrancy of its shade, moving from red to crimson, or from grey to an impending thunderstorm.

Strangely, Randidly didn’t mind it. Rather than adjust his personality, it was… intensifying him. Making him more than a person. It was a gradual thing, as several thin lines of himself, strands of emotions, became stronger. Not in the way that it would cause them to occur more often, but just that when they did occur, those emotions would be stronger, more relentless, their images vivid and bright.

Or it was like adding a higher quality engine to a car. Even now, Randidly could feel himself working… harder, faster, more tenaciously, just given an extra inch of strength due to motivation.

Closing his eyes, Randidly reached for the image of his Class. And after some soft groping in the dark, he found it. Immediately, the world exploded, and he gasped, sucking in air. Immediately, he was surprised by the fact that it actually worked, and his lungs expanded.

Eyes full of wonder, he looked down at his hand, his arm, a true body, standing here, somewhere deep, deep within his soul space. Then he looked around, taking in the small grassy hill, and the 5 young saplings that stood at the crest of the hill. At the center was one that was about double the size of the rest, a young tree about 3 meters tall, its trunk still skinny and slender.

Its branches twisted upwards to points, sharp spears aimed at the heavens. The bark of these trees was cracked and rugged, black at the edges and a dull grey at its base. Thin veins of emerald flowed through the silver, revealing the staggering vitality that all of these plantings carried within them.

Randidly looked and saw a thin blue shield condense in his Class, the personification of the addition, he supposed. It fell to one of the peripheral trees, leaning lightly against it. Immediately, it began to emanate a blue light that flowed into the nearest tree, causing it to slowly, but visibly glow. Soon, it had reached a midpoint of size between its previous size and the size of the central tree, and stopped. But now, from its branches, small azure flowers bloomed, casting a soft light over the surroundings.

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

Addition (+) has been added to Class! Calculating benefits… adjusting parameters…

Looking up at the sky, Randidly frowned. So, it seemed that there were plenty of people willing to take the chance to impart parts of themselves. This was not an asked for benefit, and it was not like the debt that he owed Shal; he would not go to the ends of the earth to help these people. It was a free benefit that he obtained.

Not that he could really discern who had given him these things. But his heart swiftly hardened, as he considered who might be moving to assist him. The first appeared to be related to protecting humanity, but these others…

The first… it was a focus on his Soul Skill. A growth in his protectiveness, his inventiveness, in his value towards being their… Progenitor. And it also had other strange effects, drawing it more closely to him, moving it towards a change of some sort, that it would make it more powerful. That must be Lucretia, but how-

A small pocket watch, split into four quadrants of white, red, golden, and blue-grey, appeared, and was swiftly absorbed by one of the plantings. That tree began to grow too, strange cogs and flywheels poking out of its bark, its color shifting to more varied and multifarious.

The next addition… was even more confusing. It was just a brutal determination. A set of principles to live by, a sense of responsibility and vindictiveness against those who crossed Randidly.

A tattered and ripped Tassle appeared, hanging from one of the four outer trees, and Randidly coolly watched as the tree twisted further, every bend and crook of the branches reminiscent of violence. Shadows gathered around that tree, and out of the corner of your eye, it seemed there was a face hidden in its trunk, smiling sweetly at you. It was a tree that could fulfill other functions, but it was completely transformed into something that evoked the spirit of a weapon. The hardness to protect softness, as it were.

The third addition… Randidly’s eyes widened. A vast desolation. A deep melancholy, and loneliness. Fury dulled by passing time. Endless patience. Wrath, bubbling beneath the surface. The tangy taste of ash…. The Patron of Ash…?

A small crack opened up in the hill, and a thin stream of magma bubbled out, quickly cooling into rock, before cracking and falling away again. More and more flowed out, and the nearest tree trembled. Rather than seeing it, Randidly could feel how its roots moved beneath the ground, seeking out that earth fire, tentatively sucking it into itself.

The whole tree shivered. Then it began to lightly smoke. But Randidly could feel that although the emerald fluid and that lava met each other and sought to eradicate the other, it was a controlled exposure, and they only served to emphasize the other’s strong points. Very soon, both flowed through the veins of the tree, and while it was not peaceful, it was not dangerous.

The final addition was simply a deep and implacable hatred. Above the hill, hanging in the sky, a fat, yellow-green moon appeared. So close and bright it cast its strange light over everything giving it an unholy pall.

This hatred…who did it come from…? Perhaps Lyra…? After what she had to go through, due to it, he would understand but… he didn’t think even Lyra was carrying this… monstrous hatred in her chest.

Randidly frowned. This was a deeper, more complete thing that he had. His hatred was perhaps...rather adolescent, in its complete rejection. But it was an easy thing to cling to, to grow strong. It was easy to understand and pursue. Staring up at the yellow-green moon, Randidly considered.

“Perhaps…” He said slowly, speaking to no one but himself. “I wouldn’t have thought about it, had I not been forced to see it, face it directly, but… we cannot escape the System, can we…? But that does not mean this hatred is useless, but…”

Reaching up, Randidly grabbed the fabric of his Class, his eyes blazing emerald. Distantly, he could feel Aether rushing to assist him in his will, fueling the change he sought. Randidly grabbed the sky, and tugged, softly. The moon began to drift downwards, slowly, towards the horizon. First just a sliver, then half, then all of it was devoured by the edge of this small hill, that made up all of his Class. Then, slowly, a sun rose in the East, bringing with it light and warmth.

“...all things should be tempered with warmth and mercy…” Randidly whispered.

Then he sighed, letting out all of the tension that he had been holding within him. Something chimed, deep within his chest, and then there was a click, as if something locked into place, and then he could feel the space around him becoming blurry. Closing his eyes, Randidly allowed himself to be thrown from his Class, and then withdrew his attention from his inward soul space, to be back into his real body. Then he opened his eyes, and saw notifications, even as the energies ran rampant through his body.

*****

Neveah watched as Lucretia added her meaning to Randidly, her Soul Bound partner, and remained silent. She understood how little influence these would really have, but it remained to be seen how much power that Randidly would receive from it all.

After Octavius’ hammer struck, instantly Neveah could feel, through their connection how Randidly began to shift and change, shaped by the Class, given shape to his growth. Hopefully, it wouldn’t affect him too much…

Immediately though, those energies swirled within Randidly, and then exploded outward through their connection flowing through in Neveah’s soul space. She couldn’t get a Class, but-

Those energies hit her like a stampede of hungry wolves, ripping into her consciousness. Instantly, something instinctual took over, and her physical body took over, physical and spinning. As she felt her personality completely displayed by something primal inside of herself, she found herself hoping that this would… hurt….

Him….

Us…..