LoRG 4

Hearing that name made RandidlyÆs skin prickle even more than the description of what happened gave him chilling flashbacks to struggling against Yystrix But at least this time he was at fault for the PatronÆs presence

Randidly couldnÆt stop a bitter smile from growing across his face thinking of his inventionÆ of DÆmin and the rest of the Lizakh The Visage of Obsession had accomplished the stated goal but he wasnÆt pleased with how far reaching the ripples of his time helping Claudette ended up being What does this Patron of the Sun want

To join the Alpha Cosmos Lucretia replied As a member of the Pantheon Although that might just be a pretext for receiving permission to stay here

Just as RandidlyÆs face was twisting into a scowl Lucretia sent another message I know your impulse is to reject him immediately and I agree that giving him freedom within your body is a bad idea But I donÆt think that we need to be so direct about it I believe that we can take advantage of his power and knowledge without giving him any influence

Randidly could practically feel her smile through the message Because heÆs asking to meet with you but you arenÆt alone You have us to help you out with the tasks you canÆt do so well

An hour later Randidly met with the Patron of the Sun on top of one of the highest rocky peaks in the Nordawn range At the PatronÆs request they chose a location above the cloud layer YnÆulkÆs healing body leaned back and released an explosive sigh of contentment as the pale rays of the sun soaked into his body Randidly lounged opposite him on a rock shelf studying the superimposed image that possessed the Lizakh warrior

You donÆt need to make the first move Lucretia had told Randidly As best as we could manage his true power is restricted in the Alpha Cosmos Without a body or permission from the Pantheon to be here there is only so much he can do Both Aether and Nether is inherently hostile to him He needs to hide without that man to avoid the natural pressure of this place

Honestly itÆs a good thing you absorbed so many planets for the Nemesai Otherwise he might have been able to tear everything to shreds with just a projection

While the Patron released such obvious contentment to be in the sun Randidly continued to test his body with his Hierarchy of Burden Besides he didnÆt mind the sun either Although he was far past the point that ExpiraÆs temperatures bothered him that didnÆt mean that sunlight on his skin didnÆt feel nice

The World Tree was one of his core images after all

The Patron of the Sun shrugged Many things might have changed But in our original calculations continuing beyond Eight Cohorts simply wasnÆt feasible Still all these things and more we can discuss later So are you willing to welcome a nomad such as myself

Randidly almost rolled his eyes at the awkward segue He allowed a few beats to pass adding the illusion that he was contemplating the offer even though he had already discussed this with Lucretia Then as though he felt as cramped and stifled as when he had absorbed Tellus Randidly shook his head I donÆt think thatÆs a good idea

Why The Patron of the SunÆs radiance increased just slightly He released more emotional pulses more frustrated than ever

I can sense your strength Which is valuable yes but it is difficult to so quickly throw open my doors and welcome you inside of this Alpha Cosmos that IÆm making Randidly said slowly Perhaps some time to think about it would be for the best

The Patron of the Sun leaned forward I agree that we need more opportunities to know each other before we can reach nurture even a basic trust But do we have time to move so cautiously I sensed the current state of the Nexus Both the monitoring apparatus and the Nexus Ways are currently down All surveillance has gone completely dark For a figure like me well Even if I behave with restraint I suspect some of my fellow original Patrons will not And once the word is out that we are freed the Nexus will throw everything it has to capture and subdue us The chance for me to join the Alpha Cosmos with no one being the wiser will have passed

Randidly pressed his lips together Although YnÆulkÆs face remained slack the golden light rippled behind him

Seconds trickled past Randidly even before his conversation with Lucretia had learned the hard way that making a decision under duress was foolish YnÆulkÆs fingers began to twitch when Randidly was so obviously unswayed He could practically hear LucretiaÆs voice He will offer a compromise

Perhaps a compromise is in order The Patron of the Sun shook his head My presence as a Patron you are correct that my might makes it a dangerous proposition But at the very least I wish to make sure that my people are well cared for in your isolated space Perhaps we can select a representative from the Lizakh that can become a Patron

He wants a foot in the door that he can use to pry the Alpha Cosmos open later Which is fine so long as we are prepared for it and he doesnÆt understand that this place is your body So go along with the idea but you cannot offer the first option And you cannot reject him outright So you will need to think of a way to distract him Lucretia had said But Randidly didnÆt have any problems thinking of a new conversation topic

He rubbed his chin You make it seem like the Nexus would be desperate to silence you Why is that

The Patron of the Sun shrugged To keep their version of history as the only one Not that all of these pieces of knowledge that I have are dangerous to them but itÆs simply easier if people did not know for example that you and most of the people on this planet are artificial life

excuse me RandidlyÆs eyebrows knitted together

Ah I donÆt mean that as a specific attack The Patron waved a hand Your people generally are all not true organic beings that evolved from amoeba See You likely didnÆt know This is deeply related to the chaos at the end of the Second Cohort We were already falling behind on our goals of creating powerful images after the First Cohort So Elhume and some of the other Patrons began working together on a very dangerous and ambitious project To create beings with extremely high potential and imagination while also possessing acceptable base Stats and high fertility

Elhume created a grand array of both Aether and Nether He took the slightest pinch of PineÆs perfection and wove it through the core of the Engraving while also drawing out valuable traits from some of the more powerful races loyal to him His first resultsÆ were strange partially hairless creatures that were foolish and bold Most died very quickly They started quite feeble but could develop very quickly He made thousands of prototypes and had them breed to observe their mutations Apparently what he witnessed was acceptable because he pushed ahead with the plan to expand the population of artificial life But at the end of the Cohort right before he betrayed us

The Patron of the Sun trailed off there Then he sighed and leaned back Honestly I suspect that something about the final event creating so many arcsÆ and sending them to uninhabited planets to generate life for the Nexus was what caused such a sudden shift in him Perhaps he finally lost hope

What are you talking about Randidly whispered

The Patron chuckled Originally we called you Elhumes Because you were the project that consumed so much of his and the Patron of the DeepÆs time Now I think thatÆs been shortened to simply humans Your race was supposed to be the key to creating the powerful images the Nexus needed to sustain itself Pretty ironic that you are now plotting to take it all down no

Chapter 1792

Randidly considered himself sharp but he needed a moment to press his tongue to his teeth and suck in a breath barely able to follow the dense stream of information that the Patron was producing You casually mentioned Pine to test my knowledge Or was the child of Yystrix more well known in the past Also artificial life Elhume betrayed his Patrons All of them or

One issue at a time Randidly told himself trying to keep his expression even You are implying that humans were are originally created by Elhume By design he just shipped a bunch of worlds to essentially sow the seeds for images later But how could he make sure that

It is easier to think of the process as a grand nudge The Patron shrugged and leaned back on his stone Wind whistled around them on the mountaintop unphased by the import of his words Most of the targeted worlds already had some life forms present in very low tier shapes Unintelligent vermin generally Only a few planets were seeded directly with Elhumes that were already grown IÆm not too familiar with the details but I believe most of the grand finale was reaching out and simply pushing those small animals toward his vision for a more image friendly lifeform

For several seconds Randidly sat and tapped his fingers against his stone Sulfur hummed along with the small impacts enjoying the kinetic sensation His thoughts spun but the whirling snowglobe of his mind gradually began to settle Was there any current danger if what the Patron of the Sun suggested was true That all humans were engineered

It was hard to say Perhaps Elhume had some remnant influence over all humanoids Were all the beings that appeared to have a humanoid shape truly nudged by an ancient ritual from the Second Cohort

But that immediately felt wrong to his senses based on what Randidly had seen of both Engravings and Nether Rituals Perhaps on a small scale some influence could be retained but from the short explanation of the Patron of the Sun and the wide implications if Elhume had a hand in every humanoid lifeform the scope of the accomplishment was mind boggling even before considering lingering ties The act could have only been a massive donation to the universe

RandidlyÆs attention then twisted inward as though he could dig into his own flesh blood and DNA to find answers to his vague questions Flaring the Grey Creature Glimpses Providence and Revelations of the Atramentous Threshold for several seconds earned him nothing but a mild headache and a mounting sense of anxiety He flexed his hands as he turned his focus back outward

The Patron of the Sun didnÆt miss RandidlyÆs rapid thoughts It does not sit well with you yes I would feel the same if I knew that bastard Elhume had such an influence on my existence but heh can I even talk I was one of his Patrons I believed in him Perhaps more than anyone else I can understand the emotions you are experiencing right now

The blatant attempt to build sympathy between them had Randidly rolling his eyes It also served as a convenient point to refocus on his current task turning away the Patron without directly refusing him After all no matter what this figure obviously possessed a dangerous amount of power

Unless he had no other choice Randidly didnÆt want to antagonize him He had too many enemies already

So he took a deep breath and allowed the warm certainty of his heartbeat to filter away all his anxiety No matter how curious he was at the casual reveal of knowledge from the Patron of the Sun including details regarding early fights against Nether the history of the Second Cohort and the existence of Pine Randidly didnÆt dare let himself get distracted

But also as he paused and truly examined the emotional fluctuations of the Patron he felt reassured by how all over the place his emotions were Fear hatred frustration and worry wove together into a dense tapestry as silence sat between them

Then again Randidly supposed that if he had just been freed after two thousand years he might be a bit unbalanced too And feeling those emotional flaws made it easier to trust LucretiaÆs plan would handle the situation

ThatÆs a lot of information IÆll have to consider what it all could mean Randidly said casually even when he truly did need some time to unpack what the Patron had tossed out to attract his attention

Randidly produced a washcloth from his interspatial ring and wetted it so he could wipe some of the blood from YnÆulkÆs sleeping face He was thankful for the anticlimactic end to the meeting but suspicious

When no trouble manifested even after several seconds he nodded at DÆmin Take your fellow Lizakh back with you I believe that he will need quite a bit of rest after that experience But perhaps meeting the Patron of the Sun will help him develop his image

DÆmin nodded and picked the other Lizakh up But before he passed through the portal he looked back at Randidly Excuse me I understand that I have no standing to ask this of you but I was hoping you could arrange for my training I truly wish to proceed out into the wider universe the one where she ahem But in my current state

YouÆll be eaten alive RandidlyÆs lips twitched Then his expression softened wondering what sort of connection now existed between DÆmin and Claudette Had he planted the seeds of it when he incorporated the Lizakh into her image But I know a group of people who can help you train Whether you will grow strong that part is up to you

DÆmin left after giving his thanks leaving Randidly alone on the mountain top He shook himself and spoke to the air How did you know that DÆmin wouldnÆt agree And then that the Patron would choose to withdraw rather than picking someone else

Lucretia condensed next to Randidly She reached up and tied her long hair into a bun Former was more of a gamble than the latter She admitted But as part of the Pantheon we have certain insights into the deepest desires of individuals Honestly the sensation is hard to explain I suspect that we can give a bit more well tailored Paths due to the prevalence of Nether So I could see DÆminÆs desire to grow stronger and experience the universe for himself

As for the Patron leaving of his own accord heh ItÆs a matter of image fidelity Whatever he wanted to pull with getting one of his people onto the Pantheon he needed someone who had a basic capability with images so he could use them as a conduit Other than DÆmin and YnÆulk the Lizakh donÆt have anyone worth mentioning Utilizing his image through someone weak would have aggravating amounts of static on his end He could choose someone and hope to train them to competency but if someone else started showing a lot of potential better just to wait Despite how restless he seemed this is a being capable of patience

He probably had to be to survive so long in isolation Randidly reflected

After conversing a bit more Lucretia left to handle other matters of the Alpha Cosmos Although they didnÆt want it to be the Patron of the Sun they were talking a lot about expanding the Pantheon with the addition of Tellus and the Nemesai worlds they needed to work near constantly to provide even basic Skills and Paths to all the developing individuals

Randidly punched his fists together Sulfur hummed in pleasure ItÆs nice to know that even while IÆm focusing on my own issues the Pantheon is growing strong in its own way Through with the growing significance of the Alpha Cosmos and the thoughts of the population here Somewhat tempting to make myself a part of the Pantheon but to do so would mean that I have a responsibility to help with the tasks And IÆm busy enough as it is

He used the Philosopher’s Key to open a portal back to DonnytonÆs festival By this point night had fallen and the soup stand was humming with activity Delilah had been forced to help with the biscuits with Randidly busy but she now gratefully ceded that responsibility to him and scampered off into the night

After the bustle died down in the early hours of the morning only Neveah DÆmin Randidly and Claudette were left in the soup stand The rest of the visitors had other responsibilities The group lounged in the back area of the kitchen snacking on small hand pies that Katrina had brought over from their stand They all were thoroughly seeped in the small of stewed meat

Yet when they all finished eating Randidly cocked an eyebrow at a yawning Claudette You certainly look more lively than you did before Have fun

Yes I feel quite energized Claudette grinned at him There was a growing intensity in her eyes that Randidly recognized He mirrored the same anticipation back at her Both of their smiles widened

Neveah sighed Really All you two want to do now is train more I will never understand you fighting types

Chapter 1793

Don Beigon rubbed his eyes and looked out the window He sat at the center of a vast web of all the favors owed to him feeling the tremors running along those connections The Nexus faced a storm and he suspected that the worst of it hadnÆt even arrived

Outside the window the immaculate gardens of the Beigon Estate remained a riotous explosion of warm life To look at them was to see only them This was the sanctuary that he had built to protect his family from trials like this But looking at the peaceful grounds now all he felt was a vague contempt

Taking down the Nexus Ways in order to prevent the Pinnacle Seekers from being able to escape pursuit Please You sent a token hunting team after them and turned to your own business the Don sneered Birds fluttered in the tree branches of the orchard singing cheery songs in the process I wonder how many Speculum or individuals almost at the Speculum tier are currently undergoing image refinement and I wonder how many will attempt to reach the Pinnacle during the week that communications are down

Now that I think about it was the destruction of the observational Aether constructs planned Or is this just them capitalizing on the opportunity The DonÆs fingers tapped a rhythm against the bamboo armrest of his wheelchair His attention strayed back to the buzzing web of dues owed to him He had some favors owed to him by some of these Speculum figures old favors that they might even have forgotten about but it seemed like a waste to use those to figure out how organized this destabilization process was

Yet thinking about tabs made Don turn his head away from the window and spit onto the ground next to him He could feel the constant aggravating presence of the debt he now owed to Randidly Ghosthound doubly hooked within his image based on his attempt to dodge the responsibility completely

The Don released a subtle emotional ripple down the connection to the Ghosthound keeping it simple resembling something accidental He waited several seconds and then sighed when there was no response That bastard learns quickly Well thatÆs fine Hopefully his tenaciousness will rub off on Detta

His expression crumpled and he felt a deep ache in his heart Then he slapped his cheeks and straightened He couldnÆt afford to back off now Not that he was so close to possessing the power to finally save his family

Detta I know you donÆt understand right now But this is all for your benefit If I did not take such harsh actions we would be doomed The Don tightened his hands into fists Then he forced his joints to loosen and flicked his wrist Suddenly the Skull of Truth sat in his hand her long white hair cascading down over his thighs He adjusted the head and looked at the closed eyes Already small phantasmal shapes flickered in the corners of his vision Holding the holy object even more effective than he had anticipated

At the size and near full comprehension of the DonÆs image improving was exceedingly difficult He had stretched himself toward wholeness it was almost too late for any adjustments Still he smiled as he gazed down at the Skull of Truth that was not a skull The visualizations steadily grew stronger Those shapes didnÆt exactly inspire change but they did provide a little bit of the nudge focusing his efforts

Losing the Citizenship Coin Fabricator to the Nether King was dangerous but if he could improve his image on his own

Fellador Don Beigon called The next moment his cowled subordinate crouched behind him hand across his chest He spoke without wheeling himself around still staring down at the precious item IÆll be spending the next few days in isolation Allow no one to disturb me during that time Even if Claudette is in danger you will need to handle the situation yourself

As you will Fellador replied

When his subordinate had gone Don Beigon tightened his grip on the Skull of Truth Gradually the thin eyelids began to release a sweet radiance lit from within by a burning fire

Randidly allowed his three images to spread outward across his body and condense into his image physicalizations Sharp claws formed on his hands and natural armor stretched encased his joints His already powerful form became even more streamlined and overwhelming as his lower tail armored itself and golden veins flared to life through his limbs A shadowy orb of darkness replaced his left eye and his hair lightened to emerald

Edge of Desolation Claudette shouted Her blade cut downward all the force of her image collapsing on top of Randidly

He raised Acri and met the attack directly Not enough time had passed for him to gather very much natural energy so he brought his image flaring up and triplicate The Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil Cosmic Necessity The Vindictive Chimera Smites

Congratulations Your Skill the Vindictive Chimera Smites has grown to Level 340

This time Randidly was smashed backward before the whole of her image The portion of Sulfur covering his torso cracked and some blood spurted out of the wound to be dragged down by the current of significance in the shaft Groaning he righted himself and spun sideways to avoid a second slash from Clarent

Claudette dragged her growing blizzard of ruin and cold down after Randidly but he kicked off a thin plane of gravity he generated and popped out of its grasp She growled and rumbled after him but Randidly rapidly gathered his momentum skipping along the surface forces that Claudette radiated and dipping the tip of Acri into the blizzard to sample its power

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 462

Soon a fair portion of ClaudetteÆs own power that she released became natural energy that Randidly carved apart and channeled through his body as he utilized his Skill and some of the principles he learned from watching the Nether King Unfortunately her image was also rapidly swelling filling almost a quarter of the Shaft even at this depth It didnÆt seem like she would allow him to gather enough power to match her image

Randidly spun and dove through the frost edged outer winds that Claudette generated and blazed directly toward his sparring partner

Her image settled across him gradually but the soul crushing desolation and hatred that she created rapidly accumulated on his skin His open wound was frosted shut He could feel her image discharge sapping at his emotional potency even as he pierced through the edges middle area and finally reached the core portion of this world destroying storm

Claudette waited for him there floating calmly amongst winds that could tear an average person in half Thick black veins had crawled out from her gauntlet of hatred creeping up her arm She tightened her grip on Clarent and looked at Randidly with baleful eyes

Facing me spells your doom those eyes seemed to say

Randidly bared his teeth I get that all the time

Clarent cut downward as Acri slid forward bearing a tight spiral of natural energy

Chapter 1794

Commandant Wick approached the meeting room with trepidation His body was the cage around his tight scaffolding of control and within that framework his emotions seethed like a cauldron about to boil over His steps were long and smooth he was in no rush to arrive

Although the invitation had been sent to him by his faction mate Commandant Tipplin something about the wording of the message immediately made his skin crawl They had known each other for too long to miss the sudden shift Wick creased his face into a tight crinkle it felt like he was walking into an ambush

His booted feet made no sound across the soft maroon carpet The upper hallways of Military High Command were done in a different style than the base While the foundation would always be an intimidating homage to scale and majesty the top half was all luxury and accomplishment After all if you ascended this high you were powerful enough that you deserved to be treated well That was simply the law of the Nexus

The winner claimed all The loser begged for scraps that fell from the winnerÆs table

Wick passed several high ornate windows In a contrast to bustle that had seized this place right before they took down the Nexus ways three days of having most communication and transportation services down made the base still and solemn Not a hint of noise could be heard on the base The corner of WickÆs mouth curled upward All the silent maneuvering heh what a farce this all is

Still I wonÆt refuse to partake After all there are several dogs sitting at the high table tongues flopping out of their mouths acting like they are one of the strong It is time that they learned their place

Lightning fast micro expressions of fury and glee played across his features and Wick paused for several seconds The deep madness he held was constant and insidious and for just a moment it managed to break free of its binds and flare to the surface He saw himself striking at the flaw inflicted in this building during the great quake and sundering all of this edifice collapsing it on top of his foes Blood would seep out through the cracks in the rubble

Patience Wick hissed a breath out through his teeth and reined in his emotions Patience and folly is what separates us from the slobbering dogs

He finally arrived at the meeting room and pushed the tall wooden door open directly not bothering to knock He knew they were already waiting for him For a brief second he paused on the threshold eyes flicking to the four individuals waiting within all Commandants None of the fools who didnÆt deserve that prestigious title With him present they represented half of the active Commandant roster

The child like red skinned Commandant Tipplin his faction mate waved at Wick when he entered Her expression was smug as always but today it contained a particularly ugly curl of the lip Next to her sat the preying mantis Commandant Keckle and the faceless humanoid Commandant Vethelm Both were outwardly neutral in terms of the figures they supported

But it was the snake tongued humanoid twirling her purple parasol that confirmed Commandant WickÆs worst fears He released a low growl Commandant Zettlequill What A Pleasure

Hating you would be so much easier if you were just a slobbering dog WickÆs eyes flashed

Her long tongue flicked out from the lips of a wan smile Commandant Wick What a delight that you decided to finally join us

Meanwhile ZettlequillÆs master had been slowly moving through his full comprehension for a thousand years Even now he hadnÆt yet reached the stage of wholeness He had not bothered to call himself a Speculum rarely making an appearance in public

Once Wick had seated himself he pointedly ignored Zettlequill and stared at Tipplin What are their terms

Is having the undying gratitude of the most powerful Speculum in the history of the Nexus not enough for you Zettlequill spun her parasol casually Wick hated how relaxed she seemed

Commandant Zettlequill simply requests that the five of us assist in a grand image refinement array Tipplin responded wisely choosing to ignore ZettlequillÆs interjection In exchange she and her master will owe us a favor provide a tier 2 citizenship coin to each of us offer several year long Alymian passes

Dog slop Wick struggled to keep the sneer from his face

and donate the whole supply of Unitarium that was liberated from the Swacc base during the attack Tipplin continued even as Wick stiffened Obviously they intended to return this rare material to the Engraving Guild but considering the refusal of Lathis to respond to any communications I think we can divvy up the spoils

Suddenly Wick was very aware of ZettlequillÆs gaze Her tongue flicked out again Wick a major part of that deal is that you form the core of our refinement array We might have had our differences in the past but your attention to detail is second to none My master requested you specifically orchestrate the whole process

His skin prickled with cold needles Seen At this moment Commandant Wick felt extremely exposed She knew She knew his secret and now in front of everyone else she used that information to boldly bribe him Hatred surged through WickÆs veins but at the same time his control tightened too quickly for even the slightest hint to leak out

She might be twisting her knowledge and striking him with it but the temptation of the Unitarium was too much to resist He needed it desperately His furry features shifted at a glacial place settling into a rictus grin What an honor To be personally considered for this role by your master

Zettlequill smiled and turned to the two neutral Commandants Of course your participation is important as well my master truly believes that Military High CommandÆs power comes from all of the talents warriors it possesses Although we might disagree on the methods in the end there is no institution that so predictably turns out geniuses as us

Commandant Wick let her words fall away as she attempted to sway the neutral Commandants What she didnÆt describe was what would happen in the aftermath Should they quickly gather and refine her masterÆs image would he stop there Or would as most everyone else is currently doing would he then wait until the first individual attempted to reach the Pinnacle and follow close behind

Instead of torturing himself further with her presence WickÆs attention turned inward His emotions came in waves Fear embarrassment fury wild bloodthirsty a weird erotic attraction to Zettlequill he let everything splash against him and then recede His mind calculated the odds although he hated to work with her this gamble seemed worth it

Besides Commandant Wick mused This finally will give me what I need to deal with that foolish Ghosthound Heh I cannot wait to see the look on his face and then feel the fear in his soul

Chapter 1795

Why donÆt you wear shoes Claudette asked casually as the two of them drifted in the interior of the Shaft Randidly was taking one of his rare meditative breaks and Claudette felt somewhat bored after long bouts of training her Skills spiced up with sparring She obviously had trained hard for her entire life but her work ethic felt truly pathetic when juxtaposed so directly with Randidly Ghosthound

The man was an abomination stitched together in a lab designed purely to train

They had used time dilation to stretch their training session into a month currently Claudette felt like she was finally getting comfortable fighting with her new Skill but it was clear to her that Randidly was only getting started on his training His intensity steadily increased every day The reverberations that he had started to release in the past few days were potent enough that Claudette could use them for her training

Always he seemed to have something else to attempt or experiment or perfect He practiced with his three images he practiced with his spear he practiced with Nether he trained his physical body he practiced utilizing his emotions to mobilize his images

And the short time he spent transitioning between these brutalizing training regimens left Claudette exhausted She could see the way that the different training tasks utilized different types of energy and focus but still How did he stay sane with a pace like this

So Claudette tried to make some conversation feeling quite drowned in the silence of this place

Randidly opened his eyes and glanced over at her He must have been working on an image because one of his usually emerald eyes was simply an orb of darkness Honestly Because when I first started out in the System my shoes were eaten away by acid At the time I was too desperate to really worry about anything other than surviving So I sorta just got used to feeling the ground beneath my bare feet

Plus I quickly developed Skills related to plants and roots Randidly continued He straightened from his meditative position and bent over stretching to wrap his hands around his ankles So the contact became useful Even now having my feet pressed against the ground gives me some bonuses

Honestly I can understand wanting to skip on certain pieces of equipment At the highest level equipment can do little to boost your image Who needs to just accumulate more stats But Claudette tilted her head to the side as she studied Still isnÆt that a bit casual of a reason not to have footwear Especially because it attracts the ire of Commandant Wick

She realized her mistake and went ashen just as RandidlyÆs expression began to darken Inwardly she cursed herself she got so caught up in the training that she forgot about his strained relationship with Wick She was tired distracted and lazy She should have known better

Honestly her long hours of observing Randidly made her believed that Wick was the very reason he trained so hard

She quickly tried to change the subject I think IÆve reached a good place with my image Perhaps another spar

Not really in the mood Randidly grunted Then he folded his arms and closed his eyes even as spectral flames began to lick across his arms both armored and flesh Claudette could only watch him with sad eyes and then sigh

At least this proves I need a break Feeling guilty and still too listless to return to concentrated training Claudette opened up her Status Screen and examined it closely

Claudette Beigon

Class Thane of Ice and Shadow

Level 99 (99%)

Health(/R per hour) 3611/3540 (500)

Mana(/R per hour) 3001/3001 (490)

During the last spar a half hour of battle saw her finally bridging the gap between RandidlyÆs unnatural speed and her own Quicksilver Fluidity But perhaps most importantly while Grip of Bleak Hatred was at its highest activation it boosted one of ClaudetteÆs other passive Skills Supreme Talent

The description of it was a bit vague but it definitely increased the speed at which she earned Skill Levels and experience Each second of battle against Randidly saw her earning one Skill Level or another

So long as their image doesnÆt dwarf mine I can keep up too Claudette tightened her hand into a fist These fights against Randidly have been obnoxious due to how high his defensive Stats are but I can truly feel how much IÆve improved from before Compared to the foes I previously considered strong

Of course her thoughts trailed off there Claudette estimated that she had about a 50% increase in current strength from the image refinement Based on what she sensed from utilizing her image RandidlyÆs assistance might have tripled her growth potential Finally she understood how her image Skills and battle style fit together to become a deadly whole With her newly evolved Soulskill she felt confident about the current direction of her growth

Yet how long do I need to remain in this place to bridge the gap ClaudetteÆs face darkened If she had put a number on the upper limit of what she wanted this outcome would have been very near to it Perhaps this result was even more than she believed could be possible But this extremely positive outcome couldnÆt match the ludicrous power that the threats against her possessed

After slapping her cheeks and then chiding herself because it was a habit she picked up from watching Randidly Claudette back to training Because even if she now had a more powerful image moving was the only way she kept the bleak helplessness from drowning her once more

With the last strike of the hammer the furred bracer was completed Almost reverently he laid it upon the anvil and let it settle The long grey hairs along the shaped bone seemed to ripple the piece of equipment seemed sentient which was a good sign The highest quality materials had been gathered the most ritualistic practices adopted and the actual forging

Sam had outdone himself With the natural energies the phantasm of a wolf manifested above the bracer raising its head and howling at the moon Yet he looked at the description of the piece of equipment and only felt disappointment

An excellent final result But it fell short of his goals The limit of VIII remained firm Even though he had felt like this would have finally

He sighed and shook his head His shoulders and fingers ached Sweat dripped down his forehead and into his eyes The heat of the blazing furnace in front of him was the dominant physical presence he had experienced for the last several hours remained a constant companion The heat poured out like a massive behemoth breathing on him

His ears were ringing Around him he was vaguely aware of the people who had gathered to watch his forging cheered at the visual manifestation of the item’s completion To date only seven such events had occurred But all those cheers felt so hollow after his failure The noise the heat his sweat everything started to become liquid and run together

Sam squeezed his eyes shut Would be a damn sight if I collapse in front of everyone Okay here we go Just a few steps

One of the assistants was bringing Sam a microphone but he breezed right past the woman he was in no fit state to speak Luckily he often followed RandidlyÆs lead of eschewing the public relations side of his responsibilities so his assistants quickly gathered the equipment and began to explain its Stats without needing him at all

An unintended side effect of you being so lazy SamÆs lips quirked as he limped off the stage Pre System influential people were expected to be public The internet is coming back slowly but that same need to dig into someoneÆs private life hasn’t returned Most people are too busy just trying to survive to be curious

Regina and his son were waiting for him backstage with a water bottle and a towel Sam heaved another long sigh and began limping toward them but suddenly Daniel was there

About the item Daniel began

Sam looked sourly at him Do whatever you want ItÆs being donated to Donnyton

Then he stumped over to kiss his wife and tell his son that no he couldnÆt take the cool wolf bracer

Chapter 1796

Congratulations Your Fatepiece the Hierarchy of Burden has grown to Level 39

Congratulations Your Skill Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil has grown to Level 478

Significance flowed steadily downward and the Stillborn Phoenix heaved out a long blast of refined emotions Now that he understood how important the right sort of emotional intensity was Randidly studied the release much more closely Still emotions seemed determined to remain inscrutable to him every time he peered too closely he could feel them writhe and curl in on themselves to avoid him

Randidly clicked his tongue After three months of training with short sparring matches with Claudette he sensed it was time to return to the Nexus He leaned back and released a breath as he eased back on his Fatepiece His insides felt like they were literally on fire the upper tiers of the Fatepiece left his organs seared and miserable However early in their stay in the shaft he had noticed the very obvious applications of Yggdrasil in absorbing light radiations

He had relied on that to forcefully advanced the Fatepiece even when he struggled to manage both the electromagnetic discharge and the light Randidly now chewed on his lip as he looked down at his hand one flesh one Sulfur settled into a semi permanent position across his left side He knew that he would need to allow DiOrtho to acclimate more with the electromagnetic radiation before he proceeded any further plant image or no

His Fatepiece replicated the radiation generated by the birth of a new dimension Even with the Alpha Cosmos Randidly couldnÆt handle all that alone

We need to get back anyway Randidly glanced over at Claudette who practiced gathering a blizzard around her body and directing the winds We didnÆt head as deeply as I usually do so several days have passed in the Nexus Even if the current Claudette

RandidlyÆs expression darkened as his mind turned to Commandant Wick Even if neither of us is ready to face the foes in front of us we donÆt need to be in any hurry The chaos in the Nexus will keep them from focusing too much on small fries like us And also we need to understand whatÆs going on in the Nexus Because I doubt that itÆs going to magically get better now that things are beginning to come to pieces

As he straightened out his body and shook himself he opened up his Status screen

Level 63 (72%)

Health(/R per hour) 13615/13615 (9627)

Mana(/R per hour) 13062/13062 (3313)

Stam(/R per min) 9496/9496 (3317)

Uncommon Metabolism (Un) 1337

End 1102

Primordial Nether Juju 1487

Dreadful Alacrity 1672

Grim Intuition 1471

Reaction 1452

Randidly nodded slowly as he examined his Stats These months had been extremely productive because he had aimed for something that he had done very rarely in the past he was grinding Skill Levels

Specifically he wanted to push the Skill Levels up on his three images to improve the power of combining them and help balance the effects However once he had started with this task he didnÆt mind picking up some of the smaller combat Skills and utilizing them directly With his extremely high Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm Randidly boosted each of those Skills between 60 and 130 Levels

In turn he was currently sitting on a little above five thousand PP which is an amount that he rarely accumulated except when his Tithe from the Alpha Cosmos came due Randidly looked at his Status again but could only shake his head Even with this massive chunk of PP that IÆve gathered over the past few months IÆm only one third of the way through triggering the Next Tithe And this time IÆve picked all the low hanging fruit most of my core Skills are near 400 or above it

Randidly did stumble across an area of focus that didnÆt relate to Skill Levels in his grinding resonance with Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko When he was training with the old physical Skills that he hadnÆt thought about in a while he could feel a nascent form of a Skillset beginning to percolate in his Soulspace However he needed to think very deeply about how to proceed

He didnÆt want to create a fourth dominant image that he would need to juggle But if he could combine all these things into a Skillset focused on fighting Make that Skillset consist of the combined triple image physicalizations

With a wry smile on his face he shook himself Perhaps IÆm getting greedy But I donÆt think I have much choice but to keep struggling to improve Then again maybe the smart thing would be to incorporate those Skills into one of the other images That way I things donÆt become messier than they already are

In addition to his focus on Skill Levels Randidly had continued to improve his capabilities with Nether Slowly as he used his naturally flexible energy to improve both of the two Weight enhancements he already established around his Nether Core he began to understand exactly how much his Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae aided him

Nether was an unruly and unpredictable energy Only due to his extremely high Stats was he able to make such steady improvements Otherwise without a firm hand guiding it through the different arrays small deviations in execution would have muddied the water of the result

With such a pile of PP Randidly opened up his Path menu and looked through the different options cutting out some of the earlier Paths that didnÆt interest him

The Bell of Doom Tolls 0/600 Cleaver of the World Tree Weakness of the World Tree 0/500 Guilty Conscience I 0/100 Hands of the Artisan 0/ Ashes of Illym the Above Average Child 0/5000 The Flame the Burns Memories 0/ Exodus the Terror 0/1000 Genesis the Considered 0/1000 Mysteries of the Fiery Emerald Waltz 0/ Violent Heat I 0/ Sovereign of Violence I 0/1000 Deathwish X 0/5 The Pursuit of Alchemy 0/750 Weakness of the Stillborn Phoenix 0/500 The Shadow Beyond the Threshold 0/ Primordial Might 0/ The Passion sans Shape I 0/ Architecture of Yggdrasil I 0/ The Trace of the Ideal 0/ Emotional Evolution I 0/500 Breath of the Imaginary Firebird 0/1000 The Throne of Nether Homage I 0/500 Stat Evolution IV 0/1000 Spark of the Origin Beast 0/ The Eyelids of the Grey Creature Flutter 0/10 000 Determined III 0/300 Violent Currents of Amenoumi 0/2500

Randidly considered the available Paths He took particular note of the fact that all of the previous Paths relating to the Grim Chimera had vanished In its stead he only possessed the Eyelids of the Grey Creature Flutter which had a too steep price of 10k PP Plus it seemed that the System sensed his efforts with his spear use

Still what immediately caught RandidlyÆs eyes was the continuation of the Determined Path he had started earlier Since the cost was only 300 he didnÆt mind pushing it to the fifth leg of Paths to see the result

Congratulations You have completed the Determined III Path You continue to tirelessly explore every avenue accumulating experience These small Paths may not be covered in riches but you walk them with confidence There is meaning to your continued dedication to improvement

Branching Path Although you have made some small discoveries about yourself there is no sudden epiphany waiting for you at the end of this Path Would you like to collect a very small reward now or defer the reward for later

Congratulations All Stats +5

Congratulations You have completed the Determined IV Path The depths of your determination know no bounds You continue to pursue opportunities in even the most unlikely of places Due to your adventures you begin to sense the shape of something larger lurking in your subconscious There is a truth about the world that you are slowly learning by following your intuition

Branching Path Although you have made some discoveries about yourself there is no sudden epiphany waiting for you at the end of this Path Would you like to collect a small reward now or defer the reward for later

Congratulations All Attributes +200

Congratulations You have completed the Determined V Path What do you sense from the edge of the horizon that continues to draw you further Because you have not relented in your pursuit of improvement in mundane locales That sense you feel is building but at the same time you begin to doubt the efficacy of your Path If there was truly a secret to this

Branching Path You feel confident in your exploration of the surroundings Perhaps the reward wonÆt be large but you can sharpen your mentality through these adventures Would you like to collect your well deserved reward now or continue to waste your time

Randidly rubbed his chin You know when you so obviously want to nudge me toward the reward I almost want to just keep persisting

Chapter 1797

Randidly wavered for several seconds as he looked at the branching path before him He didnÆt want to keep going down this Pathset at the moment but also he didnÆt wait to take such an obvious bait from the System From all the times that it had tried to screw him over in the past he wanted to dig in his heels and keep going

Then he shrugged to himself I suppose IÆm allowed a little bit of stubbornness IÆve earned that much

Congratulations When you eventually give up on your determination +10 of each Attribute per Level When you eventually give up on your determination +1 free Stat per Level

Influence +109

That sort of rewardÆ certainly got RandidlyÆs attention The System was practically holding the bonuses hostage until he gave up on the Path Which of course just made him narrow his eyes and bare his teeth at the notification Jokes on you With Acri devouring all my experience I can wait as long as I need to to get those bonuses

Still Randidly wanted to look at some other Paths with the remaining chunk of PP Mostly because he earned next to nothing even after blazing through three Paths in a row He looked at his available Paths and his remaining PP of 4200 and narrowed his options down to five

Exodus the Terror 0/1000 Genesis the Considered 0/1000 The Shadow Beyond the Threshold 0/ Architecture of Yggdrasil I 0/ Violent Currents of Amenoumi 0/2500

Three of the choices were focused on Yggdrasil which Randidly still wished to elevate into a higher Rarity in the near future During his Skill grinding of the last few months he had been particularly taken with the capabilities of the Genesis and Exodus Skills They seemed to provide almost percentage based enhancement to his other attacks even before he improved them That is the Mien of Genesis and Price of Exodus naturally rose with Randidly himself

And as he started getting those Skills to higher Levels the boost they provided became more ridiculous albeit only applicable in very specific circumstances

The other Yggdrasil Skill was Architecture of Yggdrasil One method he considered to boost YggdrasilÆs power was to revamp the complex runic symbols that covered the whole of the World Tree This Path would hopefully push him in that direction

Meanwhile Shadow Beyond the Threshold would focus more on the Stillborn Phoenix Specifically Randidly hoped it would improve some of his ability to predict and anticipate which was the only reason that he hadnÆt been blasted to oblivion by whatever strange being possessed TechetadoreÆs body Although the Swacc Family seemed now to be on the run for hiding the Skull of Truth Randidly couldnÆt help but suspect that this wouldnÆt be the last time he fought against RaymundÆs brother Both his future prediction Skills tingled in anticipation at the thought

Shal too RandidlyÆs expression shifted into something guilty and pale as he saw ShalÆs slumped shoulders He clenched his hands into fists Although fighting was the way he taught me to communicate perhaps a dialogue is what I need to reach him

The final Path he considered was the one related to Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko which would hopefully consolidate his combat related abilities Honestly this was the Path that tempted him the most but the possibility of it spawning its own image made him hesitate This amalgamation toward a Skillset needed to be handled carefully

For several seconds he shifted between the three options Yggdrasil Stillborn Phoenix combat Skills With great hesitation he eliminated the Stillborn Phoenix option from contention That was a reactionary choice his current Grim Intuition and Skills had already proven effective He didnÆt need to improve them further The other two aimed at improving his own strength

Finally Randidly selected the Yggdrasil option And in turn he decided not to finish the general Architecture of Yggdrasil and instead just complete the specific Skill Paths Mostly he appreciated that he would be able to finish both of those Paths at once whereas the Violent Currents would take over half of his remaining PP He started with Genesis the Considered which earned him 1 Wisdom and 1 Resistance for every 20 PP he spent

Congratulations You have completed the Genesis the Considered Path Before the Great Seed sprouted there was nothing The infinite grey stretched in all directions How long did that seed lay dormant It is impossible to estimate But it is beyond doubt that all that has occurred since the World Tree bloomed is a split second flash compared to the primordial emptiness As you proceed down this Path you manage to capture the slightest hint of that timeless weight and momentous alteration The substance of your gaze grows strong

She frowned over at Randidly after she had steadied herself Trying to start a fight

Satisfied with the evolution of his Skill Randidly hid a smile and shook his head No I think we are done here ItÆs time to return to the Nexus and make sure we arenÆt missing too much

Instantly ClaudetteÆs expression became serious He could see her wrestling with what their return meant they had improved about as much as they could expect to before Don BeigonÆs party assuming it would still happen Now that the Nexus was coming to pieces it would be much more difficult for her to slip away and put so much effort toward improving her abilities At the same time Randidly was worried about interacting overmuch with Don Beigon before he knew what he wanted with his favor

But all thatÆs for later Randidly told himself as he pulled out his PhilosopherÆs Key Claudette floated over toward him and waited for him to open up a portal They proceeded through and found themselves in a stretch of empty space filled with cosmic dust To their left was a floating camp of the Elite Squad but the vast stretch below them

What happened here Claudette whispered looking down

RandidlyÆs frown steadily grew He hadnÆt forgotten all about the issue of Don Beigon binding the Frost Matriarch but he figured that offending all the Pinnacle Seekers was not worth whatever contributions he could earn by turning her into Military High Command The best option was that she would quietly leave and he could honestly say that she was more powerful than he was and escaped

She vanished alright taking all traces of her planet with her Not even pebbles or tiny bits of ice were left in her wake

Likely she fled Randidly said IÆll explain

But before he could continue to speak they were both struck with an inexorable urge to raise their heads and peer in a very specific direction For a brief moment time and space didnÆt seem to matter Both responded instinctually to a sudden presence the feeling was like a window being opened and sunlight shining on their skin Randidly licked his lips and his heartbeat quickened

His eyes narrowed

The Nether King had opened a door to the Path to the Pinnacle but he had only stayed within for a short amount of time and come out without causing much of a stir Randidly suspected that the Path to the Pinnacle was only a means to an end for him Meanwhile this

Someone is attempting to reach the Pinnacle Claudette said with awe in her voice the issue of her teacher forgotten This image

Why does it feel so vaguely familiar Randidly wondered

But the next instant his senses were overwhelmed by similar impressions each tied to a different sensation Four new images echoed outward as others made their bid to seize the Pinnacle on the heels of that leader

The second after that eleven images radiated outward muddying the waters even further

And in the third second a horrifying monstrous pressure that Randidly definitely recognized revealed itself Elhume was on the move making a beeline toward one of the attempts to reach the Pinnacle

Chapter 1798

With a surprisingly delicate tinkling the second barrier shattered Another blast of primordial air puffed out to fill the central area In its wake the undulating plant body of the Patron of Blooms rolled forward generating in Edraine the sharp desire to stumble backward out of the way She immediately suppressed that desire studying this second Patron carefully and standing her ground

Especially now These concentrated unyielding targets were excellent practice for her image

The Patron of Blooms took a deep breath and stretched her creaking limbs Oh my Oh oh the restrictions of the Sanctum make it difficult to see everything around us but I can sense some things The Nexus has certainly fallen to pieces while IÆve been away havenÆt they

Velio DunnÆs expression darkened Elhume continues to make a mockery of the original goal

Shush child IÆm busy thinking The Patron of Blooms waved her hand and blessedly Velio didnÆt continue through one of his anti Elhume rants The thorny vine creature seemed to be considering Small strands of plant matter twitched and tightened keeping her person in a state of constant motion Now my children eh This my home planet is Oh but I sense several strong wait why canÆt I Has everything truly been lost

As her muttering became softer Edraine could feel the PatronÆs image shifting erratically The powerful chaotic impulses wracking her mind were so intense that they leaked beyond the bounds of her body and spread out through the air Edraine pursed her lips If nothing else releasing these powerful individuals ones who seem to be slightly tainted by the edge of madness from their incarceration should distract Elhume for a fair amount of time

But it would be foolish to believe that there wonÆt be unintended consequences now that they are at liberty

Velio looked at the Patron for several seconds while she continued to whisper quietly to herself Then he turned to look at Edraine LetÆs take a short break to recuperate and then we can proceed to the next Patron Based on the reaction I believe the Patron of Blades should be

Yes yes IÆll leave this place to you too I have some small matters to take care of The Patron of Blooms interrupted suddenly done with her whisper monologue She waved her fingers at Edraine and Velio and then strode for the door thick vines slapping against the stone ground and pulling her forward Edraine glanced at Velio and raised her eyebrows

She believed her thoughts were pretty clear Did we really liberate all these Patrons to simply allow them to wander off on their own

Wait Velio said Some of his previous intensity worn away by his childlike sense of wonder at having made it to the Sanctum returned as he walked up to the Patron of Blooms His eyes were sharp I understand that you probably have many personal matters to address after being locked up in here for thousands of years but now is not the time to be swayed by emotion Without a full understanding of the situation in the Nexus

Almost a dozen people are attempting to reach the Pinnacle right now The Patron of Blooms said Then she shrugged I might be vain but I think itÆs pretty clear that IÆm small potatoes to Elhume There is no better time than now to accomplish a task covertly

RandidlyÆs brows knitted together as he felt the chaotic waves of images turn into a mass of oppressive energy that radiated to fill almost the entirety of the Nexus In the starry nebula above the former home base of the Frost Matriarch several new light sources began to pulse with a sickly green light The illumination started small but gradually the color was leached out of the surroundings

All across the Nexus lights dimmed and were blended away until everything was pale and ghastly Detail only remained in the contrast as color seemed to drain away in the face of this monumental occurrence

Yet what transfixed Randidly were the images Yggdrasil the Grey Creature and the Stillborn Phoenix all condensed across his body seeking to memorize the varied and extreme image examples that reached for the Pinnacle Randidly felt a vast and wide open sky the damp and dripping bowels of planets that birthed monsters and also a sharp tang of ozone as a thunderstorm crashed upon the ground Each of these was warped by distance but most notably they were all being widely stretched by the tide of emotions that each individual brought to this attempt

Randidly could feel their hope their desperation their long suppressed fear and craving They wanted power Now their grasping hands stained the entire Nexus

ClaudetteÆs gaze toward Randidly changed as she heard his words and begun to hesitate They were working together to resist the plans of Don Beigon but Randidly had never stated his own private mission so directly But looking up at these massively powerful players clashing he saw no point in hiding it

Even if she didnÆt join him Randidly doubted that she would use this information against him The image refinement had created a certain understanding between them

Claudette released a slow breath If that is truly what you intend then you will never stop fighting Even if even if you somehow manage to catch up to Elhume others will not give you peace Watching Elhume now do you think he achieved what he wanted even with all the power he has If he had why would he struggle so hard against those now trying to reach the Pinnacle There is no peace at the end of the Path you are suggesting

As if on cue Elhume reached the group of three Pinnacle Seekers It was a distant invisible struggle These lasted a bit longer than the solo individual but one two three seconds passed and then had been annihilated just the same Their destruction echoed out through the Nether layer slapping Randidly like an unexpected splash of cold water

The amount of force Elhume utilized must have been horrifying for him to feel it so clearly Then without pause the most powerful figure in the Nexus turned and aimed for a new target Seeker Thunder Wing

There is no peace RandidlyÆs eyes glittered as he thought about the generous explanation that Seeker Thunder Wing had offered for the Hierarchies For me at the end of the Path yes But this was never about me

Not since I became the Alpha Cosmos

Perhaps it was because of his meeting with Seeker Thunder Wing but Randidly could practically feel the heavy footfalls of Elhume as he devoured distance and approached his next challenger The soundless impacts blasted out through Nether setting RandidlyÆs tail to flicking fitfully every time they reached him

Meanwhile each of the doors at different paces were cracking open

An oppressive cry of fury boomed outward Seeker Thunder WingÆs Path to the Pinnacle door was one fo the first to open The chaotic energy interference around his image finally ceased In the next instant Seeker Thunder WingÆs image vanished and the door closed leaving Elhume seeping in fury But the most powerful individual in the Nexus didnÆt pause He turned and made a beeline for another nearby individual whose door had not yet opened

As more proceeded to this special venue the greenish light that soaked the Nexus began to fade

I wonder then if the difficulty in opening the door to the Path to the Pinnacle is related to how powerful your image is Randidly speculated Which is why there are so many individuals attempting it you donÆt need to be at the Speculum Tier

Of course if it was so easy you could manage it without reaching the Speculum Tier unless they were inspired by the actions of the Nether King and intend to simply remain there until they can reasonably make their own attempt

All in all Elhume reached and crushed two more individuals before all of those who opened the Path to the Pinnacle had escaped So of the sixteen individuals how had attempted it only ten had made it

Randidly remained fascinated that the entire time the first individual to start the chain reaction hadnÆt been targeted although Nether informed him that person was the closest to Elhume It made him wonder if Elhume hadnÆt encouraged one particular individual to do it to draw out all the others

Which probably meant that those who intended to wait and train at the base of the Path to the Pinnacle would not easily find peace

Chapter 1799

As the remnant energies dissipated from the Nexus Randidly led Claudette down to the camp of the Elite Squad Talking helped him focus even though his mind was racing For now we wait I suspect that these next two days will be relatively mild while the Nexus Ways remain down But after that

After that what should I be doing Randidly wondered

The fallout will be immense Claudette winced If it is discovered that you are associated with anyone who attempted the Path to the Pinnacle well Elhume might not move against you directly but the orthodox factions will be only too happy to launch an inquisition to settle some old grudges with independent groups

We will likely be busy Randidly mused aloud The Elite Squad finally noticed their approach and Diortho Vant Most of the rest continued to churn in a scrum of images and chaotic Skills as two large groups battled About half were in this massive battle while the other half were doing individual training methods

Randidly could feel their flaring intensity feeling all the Paths to the Pinnacle opening had clearly motivated the group He felt a similar drive rising in his chest I need to improve in a concrete way Perhaps its time to look in on that invitation to the training camp

What next DiOrtho asked when he arrived next to them The ram demon face rippled with barely contained aggression His fighting spirit flared around him with a physical heat that wafted off of his body Likely the sensation he received about all those individuals reaching for the Pinnacle was a fraction of what Randidly and Claudette could sense but that green tinge that had briefly covered the universe was sign enough to light a fire in their chests

If Randidly had felt it Vant had definitely experienced that sense of minute helplessness staring up at a universal phenomenon They were still so small even after improving so much

Next we wait for a few days Randidly responded although he wanted so much to offer some small comfort to DiOrtho To tell his subordinate that he had definitely improved a lot since he joined the Elite Squad and it wasnÆt his fault that Randidly continued to drag them into conflicts with even more overwhelming foes But Randidly couldnÆt for whatever reason offer that comfort He found himself shrugging Until the Nexus Ways come back up we continue to pursue the Pinnacle Seekers who conspired with the Nether King But since all the leads have dried up we will remain here

ThatÆs still our mission eve after that green light The ram demon gestured Randidly sighed and nodded

There was a long moment of silence cut only by the clashing of images in the training occurring below Vant seemed unwilling to accept the inactivity but he also didnÆt say anything else Finally Claudette leaned forward and peered down at one particular individual struggling against his sparring partner She pointed How is he doing

Randidly and Vant glanced downward their eyes eventually settling on the very much overmatched DÆMin barely able to keep a grip on his javelin as he tried to block his opponentÆs attacks Vant grimaced Well heÆs definitely improving quickly But Head Drill Sergeant I have to ask were we that weak when we started training with you That bastard is absolutely pathetic

A ghost of a smile danced across RandidlyÆs face DÆminÆs scales were shattered and his ambiguous image was repeatedly smashed to pieces by the efficient actions of Benjamin Rex who was handling his new training When the Lizakh warrior asked to be trained Randidly knew of no one better to handle that than those who received the teachings of Helen

Especially if DÆmin wanted results quickly

While Commandant Wick had been solemnly staring at the messenger as though hoping that concentrated attention would unravel the news another messenger burst through the door and stumbled to a stop More headlines flowed in from the suspended machine of the Nexus

A Heretic was active in the core portion of the Nexus Hundreds of bodies were discovered with their energy sucked out of them just laying slumped in their homes In addition an extremely active planet in the Sixth Cohort had taken advantage of the situation and butchered several other planets seizing the nearby Aether pump and monopolizing it for themselves Due to those actions millions of people on other planets in the area were now falling into Aether Sickness comas

In fact the more they investigated the more is seemed like there was no place in the Nexus that hadnÆt been wracked by violence during the downtime of the Nexus Ways There had been riots and racially motivated terrorist attacks Some smaller factions had apparently fought each other in the streets leaving the bodies for today where they were found and carted away by the Military High Command patrols Several financial institutions had been attacked and robbed

The veneer of civilization is so thin these days Lady Iellaya reflected Her heart burned with a desire to abandon this post and focus on her own training but she suppressed that desire Currently she still needed to be here embedded in the military And they donÆt care none of these people do The messes will get cleaned up with violence and crackdowns problem solved Even with the death of a pivotal figure like NÆGick they only think about their own benefits And avoiding the consequences of their actions

Commandant Wick finally raised his head we must still make preparations to fight If the Engraving Guild was going to try and apply pressure and lower the influence of Military High Command The rest of the NLC will eventually get around to it but they will want to deal with their own problems first In the meantime the other factions in the military will come at us with knives

Recall all our forces and have them gather on standby Perhaps Commandant Keckle will be able to convince the other Commandants to wait but the other side has the right of it Of course listening to that damn purple witch came back to bite us

Lady Iellaya grimaced but then opened her mouth Commandant there is one thing I wish to report When communication was established Randidly Ghosthound reached out and informed me that he intended to take advantage of an invitation to a training session by the creator of the Grand Pattern Should I inform him that he should not attend

Of course did you not hear the CommandantÆs order Jeroac grumbled The bearman was a notorious ass kisser to his kin and took any opportunity to put her down Lady Iellaya ignored him and kept her eyes on the Commandant gauging his reaction

But what she wasnÆt prepared for was for the Commandant to start laughing He pushed his chair back from the desk and leaned back his large shoulder bobbing up and down Only when his guffaws had run their course and shifted into chortled did he pull himself forward and fold his hands in front of him Heh this Ghosthound has quite the sense of timing doesnÆt he That old bastard on his weird mountain he might claim that heÆs independent but if there is internal fighting at Military High Command he will be the one pushing for it

For a brief second Lady Iellaya saw something like genuine hesitation on the CommandantÆs face But then his expression firmed back to the familiar look of implacable resolve At the same time as this vulnerability by our faction I send a talented subordinate to participate in some of his Grand Pattern nonsense Heh IÆm certain it will give that old man pause If only because he cannot understand why I would do so Heheh Yes the Ghosthound is ordered to do his best while attending this training camp Even if he still needs more education in proper manners his ability to escape certain death is truly admirable

Lady Iellaya bowed her head slowly She sent a message to Randidly saying that he was free to attend the training session leaving out the portion about being ordered to do his best Then she responded to the other half of RandidlyÆs message

When I finally have some free time IÆll provide what information I know about the Path to the Pinnacle Also donÆt worry about the passage of time Although the time dilation there isnÆt strong I know the Grand Pattern Mountain experiences about two days for everyone in the Nexus

Be ready The chaos has the big groups moving cautiously but that will end soon And when the fighting begins I have no doubt that you will be targeted

Chapter 1800

Outside the cave the wind crooned its constant song Eoarn sat with his legs folded beneath him waiting for his master to visit His twitch was back but this was a relatively mild day He felt more sane than usual He raised his slightly jerking left hand and patted the ground trying to reassure himself with the cool stone

After long hours of this same task the stone floor had been worn perfectly into the shape of his body The flat chamber had been cleared of most stones and stalagmites so he now sat in the middle of a stone belly Due to his weakness his meditation dwelling was close to the surface of the mountain

When he had first arrived he was overjoyed He believed that while the constant noises from the wind were slightly undesirable he would grow used to them

He of course was wrong Honestly Eoarn wished he could hear the wind a little bit better That way it wouldnÆt sound like whispers

Sometimes he had nightmares that the mountain kept him here for so long because it was steadily digesting him The wind was the glee of the grand pattern as he died here Eoarn might have worn down the floor but what had changed within himself in that same time period When was the last time he had the desire to leave the mountain and see the rest of the Nexus

He pushed those thoughts away and tried to focus The more he allowed those thoughts to fester the worse his twitch would become Upon the wall in front of him a replica of the official tiled platform sat filled with the base symbols for experiencing the Grand Pattern Eoarn engaged in intense image training while he waited dancing across the illuminated tiles with a perfect grace that he wished he could capture with his body

The whispering of the wind was static pulling at his attention Just a few tugs so even in his imagination he failed bitterly

Soon the knocking of a cane interrupted both his image training and the constant noise of the wind around the mountain A short while later his master came out of the shadowed passage that led deeper into the mountain rubbing his beard

Master Eoarn whispered as he bowed his head The hoarseness of his voice surprised him What is your will

Oh donÆt mind me there is just a new recruit that I wish you to welcome with some of the hospitality of the inner areas Obviously this is no ordinary new recruit perhaps youÆve heard of the Head Drill Sergeant Very well connected very talented Surely an excellent addition should he stay here for an extended amount of time So we wish to keep his stay here as pleasant as possible I trust you will handle the situation

Eoarn bowed his head forward until his forehead touched the cool ground Of course master

He stayed there until his master thumped away the noise of his cane vanishing from the winding interior tunnels of this cursed mountain Then Eoarn considered his masterÆs words He couldnÆt help but shiver Hospitality of the inner areas a fight to the death As for a pleasant stay the only pleasant stay on this mountain is a short one So he wants me to either drive him away or kill him

I have no choice A swift death is better than the eternity that stretches before me

Eoarn felt no qualms about killing to survive as long as he had within this mountain he had to kill some of his closest early companions His hands were well and truly stained with blood And the process would be simple No matter how powerful an individual was outside of the mountain their images would be restricted by this place

Unless this Head Drill Sergeant was as powerful as the creator of the Grand Pattern his images would be perfectly useless here For the first time in a long time Eoarn felt some anticipation before a clash None of his usual fears manifested themselves This was a foe that he would be able to handle

Still Eoarn took his sweet time as he stood The task was easy but the arrangements were harder Groaning and rubbing his stiff neck he walked away from the passage that led into the depths of the mountain and approached the cave mouth His left arm continued to twitch As he walked toward the surface the song of the wind rose to a deafening howl

There were two ways of traveling through the Mountain of the Grand Pattern The first was through the interior passages the second was trooping up and down the outside However many of the interior junctions required you to pass a test in order to be allowed access You only needed to take the test once but the difficulties were not linear Some of the lower hubs were insanely difficult

I was invited to a training camp here Although I understood that the camp would be dangerous I assumed I was already accepted The Ghosthound finally said

Eoarn hopped up onto one of the stone ledges around the ravine and gestured for the Ghosthound to follow He felt pity for this talented young man Eoarn almost wished someone would have fought against him in his early days to warn him away You can consider this to be part of the training camp If you lose in this duel against me you may die Come I at least owe you an explanation before we begin

To his surprise the Ghosthound followed him without comment

They exited the ravine and stood on the bone dry surface ground Immediately the wind was amongst them forcing itself between their bodies and ruffling their clothes Eoarn turned to look at Randidly and raised his voice so it would carry about the wind Here the wind is god And the wind moves along to the mysteries of the Grand Pattern YouÆll note that your images are suppressed here it is only the power of the wind and your understanding of the pattern that is important You can only fight by borrowing that natural perfection of this place Please familiarize yourself with the surroundings I am in no rush

And when IÆm familiar The Ghosthound tilted his head to the side

Then we fight to death or surrender Eoarn said solemnly His heart was pounding The old adrenaline was rising through him It is the way of the mountain

I hope you donÆt surrender The twitching in his left hand finally began to stop as bloodlust filled him Killing you is my chance to regain my past self Before this mountain began to devour me

Most individuals had one of two reactions to the suppression of the mountain panic or fury The Ghosthound just nodded then raised his eyes to study the wind currents that moved above their heads In this place the winds were almost gentle They would buffet and shove but never cut or kill like the winds around the mountain would so gleefully do

Alright IÆm ready The Ghosthound said after a few minutes

Eoarn gestured You should have taken longer to familiarize yourself My condolences Feel free to take the first attack

The Ghosthound shrugged and began to levitate off the ground Eoarn opened his mouth to recommend that he stay nearer to the ground where the outcroppings would protect him but those words died in his mouth as the Ghosthound boldly floated upward several meters

and was immediately smashed with the wind Yet the Ghosthound barely even seemed to feel the cutting stroke of the wind even when thick image reinforced blasted moved together and began to grind at him from every direction Somehow he simply endured through it Eoarn couldnÆt believe his eyes

Then the Ghosthound raised his right hand and began to spin a finger Eoarn could almost see strands of the violent wind peeling off from the horrifying storm that raged above their heads and surrounding his digit After only five seconds his entire arm was sleeved in a whirlwind And once it had reached that size the speed at which it gathered power moved sharply upward

After only five minutes of study this talented young man rode and channeled the natural energies that drove Eoarn mad Being so casually outclassed

Howling of the force this new arrival gathered seemed to speak to him You were never meant to be anything but fertilizer

The Ghosthound flicked his finger and all that force was unleashed Eoarn simply watched it come He didnÆt bother to defend himself at all His twitch had returned Why should he struggle when he was so so exhausted

Chapter 1801

Veritable rivers of natural energy flowed back and forth smashing into each other and redirecting their flows in complex patterns that even Randidly struggled to keep straight The problem was that the energy was not Aether or Nether one thing that these two important energies had in common was that they were sticky and this energy was not sticky

That is they clung to each other ThatÆs why they could be used to form structures images for Aether and connections for Nether Once they were set their stickiness would hold them together

But the natural energy that churned above the solemn grey mountain behaved like fluttery light snow You could apply pressure and attempt to pack it together into a snowball but as soon as you released the projectile it would disintegrate into a miniature flurry With such chaotic behavior it was almost impossible to keep track of all the force

Which allowed Randidly to gather together an obscene amount of force very quickly but it left him lurching when he unleashed it and his opponent just watched

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 493

You Shit Randidly swore He possessed the reaction time to intervene but he was so caught off guard by this pale individualÆs lack of concern that he didnÆt take advantage of the small window he had to lessen the force of that avalanche of natural energy he unleashed All the force that he had gathered with Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko smashed into the figure and left a mangled spray of gore on the ground

Remnant limbs tumbled mid air almost in slow motion leaking blood Then everything hit the ground pulped flesh and mangled joints seemingly all at once

For several seconds Randidly just floated there letting the wind smash against his body Then he floated back down to the ground until he stood over the corpseÆ of the tester He frowned down at the bright crimson blood the hunks of flesh the pale bones You were definitely strong enough to block an attack like that So why

There was no answer Because no one remained to even understand RandidlyÆs strange sense of loss Death had arrived so suddenly The tester had heavily implied it would be a fight to the death but the anticlimactic conclusion left him disturbed

Not that it was the sudden death that swayed him especially since this individual was a stranger He had seen so many people die both suddenly and slowly since he came to the Nexus and walked across the dangerous battlefields that were becoming increasingly common here Even the personal responsibility wasnÆt the source of his anxiety Instead what left Randidly staring down at the shredded remains of this unnamed man was the sense of helplessness

Randidly had wielded the force that had killed him yet he had not expected or meant to The ripples running through his heart right now were curiously similar to those he felt after Helen died He had trained so hard to obtain this power but in the end that power hadnÆt mattered

Yet what did I want to happen for me to lose To triumph was always the plan Just the simplicity was a bit of a shock

He shook himself and sucked in a deep breath Then he wondered whether he would be punished for killing this man As he looked up at the rugged mountain in front of him and the swirling grey clouds somehow he doubted that the people who ran this place would care at all And honestly that made Randidly feel even worse about his death

He sharpened his gaze and looked up at the mountain that loomed above him So far as his Grim Intuition could tell this space was rather isolated beyond the heavy granite mountain that towered over him nothing else existed But the space did stretch upward through at least three layers of increasingly complex wind that hugged the towering edifice of stone Based on the fact that as he stared upward his gaze was stopped dead halfway up the mountain by a thick layer of wind and cloud Randidly expected that even more lurked in this place

Sighing Randidly shook his head Although the real problem is that now I have no idea what to do next

He sent a message to the contact that had told him which teleportation terminal to use to arrive but had received no response after five minutes of waiting next to the bloody stone Randidly could only grimace and follow the lines of the wind that lashed back and forth above the rock outcroppings He saw a weird trench that led down to the left and basically no other way to proceed

Randidly paused his eyes catching the slow ooze of blood he had created For a second he was disgusted at his own morbidity but then his own curiosity overcame that Because despite the precise information given to him by his bare feet there must be a slight slope to the ground

Some massive alignment was grinding into place above him Although he couldnÆt use the image the Grey Creature Glimpses Providence could still activate and give him some insight For a brief amount of time force from the second layer above was going to descend and ravage the lowest layer Randidly licked his lips anticipating the extra sense of danger that was the reason he had come here Because he was starting to stall out on self motivated growth

To continue to improve he needed some pressure

However that thought made Randidly look around at the barren and stony surroundings Except this was supposed to be a training camp with one hundred individuals The meeting place was the Upper Summit room Do I really need to climb all the way to the top of this damn mountain to participate Why the hell did you need to send a tester if thatÆs the case

The wind continued to howl like a wolf pack that scented blood Randidly watched as the complex flows shifted and the heavier and more dangerous portions of the storm began to rapidly descend Somehow the previous layers spun off into nothing in the surroundings But as he looked upward his face grew increasingly pale Because as the moment of collapse neared Randidly could see the broader shape of this infinite storm that hung above the mountain at least at the surface level

There were several patterns moving in constant motion This brief moment of understanding let him witness four or five When two aligned a portion of the storm would briefly have the space to collapse downward and scour the base of the mountain The hungry wind would devour any flaws that it found

Yet suddenly Randidly could feel two such patterns nearing alignment The constant screech of the wind continued to rise He couldnÆt even help it a smile began to creep across his face Maybe thatÆs why I havenÆt seen anyone they know something that I donÆt about whatÆs coming

About twenty meters above Randidly a particularly violent combination of natural energy hammered at the edge of a shale outcropping The ancient stone collapsed downward and began to slide directly for RandidlyÆs tiny path

Randidly pursed his lips and stepped forward ignoring his previous plan to train himself here When the blades of wind came for him as he moved beyond the safe area of the Grand Pattern he raised his left hand to smash them to the side Sulfur hummed with relish but Randidly again felt that sentience within the storm fixate on him

Not to lean down and oppress him but Randidly sensed a strange sense of curiosity appeared to be leaking down through the storm Randidly wasnÆt sure whether to be happy or sad that the monstrous storm appeared to have noticed him

He quickened his step and moved out of the way just as the shattered hunk of shale slammed into the footpath and cracked the edges After a long moment of stone grinding on stone the massive boulder tipped over the edge and began tumbling down across the rest of the slope In its wake the second layer of wind arrived just over RandidlyÆs head

Suddenly the wind crooned and whispered it was coming for him

Which Randidly was already well aware because the sharpened blades of wind cut deep troughs into the mountainside above him Before the second layer of wind the mountain had all the structural integrity of soggy bread With the curiosity of the storm driving it those powerful blasts of wind began to curve inexorably toward him leaving markings like an invisible giant dragging its fingertips on its way to scoop Randidly up

I could steal natural energy and fight against the wind directly but something tells me that will earn even more of this strange forceÆs attention Randidly bounced on the balls of his feet as the net of dangerous wind spun closer Plus following the pattern will help me understand it more quickly than fighting against it So after a brief rockslide interlude right back to the training plan

The noise of the wind was deafening in his ears demanding his attention as it made its grand entrance Blades of wind cut sideways at RandidlyÆs knees and feet but he danced forward and then leaned back to above a blast of wind that smacked into the stone face of the mountain flinging away a wave of dust and pebbles that bounced off RandidlyÆs face

Then he lowered his stance and accelerated as horrible spikes of wind tore giant holes in the path behind him

Suddenly something occurred to Randidly With the wind like this the path wouldnÆt have survived for me to use it if it was naturally occurring So it had been prepared ahead of time Maybe not for me but and thatÆs also why it feels like the Grand Pattern is studying me so closely IÆve walked into something A trial carefully crafted for someone else

The only question is what sort of path is this

Chapter 1802

The tier two winds were vicious A direct strike could cut through his skin fat and muscle to leave his bone bare Randidly rapidly healed through those wounds but the small impacts also threw off his steps that would allow him to avoid other strikes resulting in an exhausting and brutal gauntlet of pummeling

Damnit Randidly struggled to set his feet and ducked under a few blasts of wind How the hell does this mountain control so much natural energy

Then there was stillness It was a prelude to the tier three version of the Grand Pattern to creak and descend with vicious intent The flurry of attacks tore away all pretense of dodge then struck at RandidlyÆs restricted images then blasted through the meager natural energy he had managed to tempt to his side Then it began a long and vicious argument with his body and Stats demanding a tribute of flesh

Time blurred

Everything hurt Yet if he stopped moving even for a second he would die When the bludgeoning of force and pain became too much his consciousness had to cede control to his raw instincts sharpened from ten years struggling within the Nexus

Drip

Drip Drip Drip

His tensed muscles buzzed with pain The combination of the anticipation and dripping finally woke him to his surroundings Randidly stood frozen waiting in a timeless shard of readiness When the next attacks came he would be prepared He had to be The force of these attacks was enough to threaten him even through his enormous Stats

A dizzying wave of pain spread from RandidlyÆs temple ignited by the unexpected noise His fuzzy mind pushed the horrid throbbing back desperate to keep focused His experience over the past well indiscernible period had taught him that he couldnÆt afford to spread his attention Like a statue he stood there and waited for the next wind blades to ravage the area Dread seeped through his pained body as lessons carved into his flesh came back with perfect clarity

The third tier of the Grand Pattern descended not only with Wind Blades but also with vicious force spikes that rained from the sky

Drip Drip

RandidlyÆs face twitched at the incessant noise which immediately morphed into a wince as the small movement worsened his headache Randidly began to work at his eyelids which appeared to be glued shut with dried blood Eventually he pried open an eye and blinked at the gloomy ambiance of the surroundings

His vision was fuzzy The surroundings were inscrutable But even through his pain and weariness fogged mind he sensed that the danger had passed The storm above him slowly receded leaving him wounded but alive He tried to shift his position and his joints groaned in protest After a moment of unavoidable leaning Randidly simply collapsed onto the unforgiving ground

He coughed weakly and was surprised when blood dribbled out of his mouth Groaning he rolled onto his back careful not to roll off the thin trail along the edge of the mountain The last thing he needed was to tumble into a gorge in this condition He reached out for his images finding them wan and exhausted even though they could only operate within him on the mountain His self awareness found the turbid Nether rotating listlessly through his body

Jesus basically all of me is wrecked Randidly winced What the hell happened

Congratulations Your Skill Absolute Timing has grown to Level 228

Congratulations Your Skillset is beginning to grow Due to the special characteristics of your Skillset the growth will be done in stages Please continue to accumulate energy and potential within your Skillset to move through the different stages The more energy is gathered the greater the result Please see your Village Spirit for details

You have achieved the first stage Your Skill Yyrwood Body of Yggdrasil has evolved into the Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil Skill Levels will be maintained

Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil After a millennium of stubborn growth and being jostled by chaotic storms the Yyrwood trunk of Yggdrasil has been worn and scarred However the living record of all things runs through that same pitted bark No matter how much force is applied the rippling fabric of eternity dwells below the surface and is not easily altered Until time and space collapse the trunk will endure Vastly increases physical defense Vastly increases the effectiveness of regeneration Your body can efficiently serve as a medium to channel other energies Efficacy of all aspects increases modestly with Skill Level

RandidlyÆs eyes glittered as he looked through the Skill description Before he even finished moving through it he felt all the muscles in his body flex as one as the shift occurred His body stiffened and the lingering wounds ached in protest But as the pressure running through RandidlyÆs body increased all those pains popped and vanished like soap bubbles

After ten seconds his body gradually began to relax leaving his body swimming in comfortable warmth Randidly shook his head he remained exhausted but he had now completely recovered from the damage inflicted by the Grand Pattern As his spare attention increased he took another few seconds to scan his body He looked down at his lower tail half of which had been cut off during his unconscious struggles Turns out that walking this dangerous path provided a lot of benefits But that damned Grand Pattern had enough power to even damage my image physicalization Is it an image or wait what

Randidly blinked down at his tail He felt the change immediately now that he witnessed it The edges of his body wriggled and glittered His attention flicked back to his newly earned Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil Your body can efficiently serve as a medium to channel other energies huh

Image physicalizations had always been an area of growth that had left Randidly rather unimpressed He didnÆt necessarily focus on them but he had constantly refined his images in different ways On the one hand it was clearly a power where images were used to reinforce the body While most of the Nexus considered this to be a dead end path Randidly suspected that he would be able to benefit from following in the footsteps of Elhume and pushing his physical prowess to the limit

On the other hand his image physicalizations’ performance had always been lackluster True he experienced a defense boost for sure with smaller benefits to his power and speed but compared to what he could accomplish with his normal images it was unimpressive The growth in physical boosts had been extremely slow compared to the growth he experienced in the power of his images Perhaps he would have even begun to pull back on his image physicalizations and focus more on the alternative drops of liquid Aether if he hadnÆt been occupied improving his techniques Engraving and Nether Skills

However RandidlyÆs eyes glowed a bright neon green as he suddenly could see his previous mistakes when it came to image physicalizations

In the past he had essentially superimposed his images over his body Now as he attempted to do that again and reinforce himself his new fleshÆ was so conducive to energy that the image force slid within him and began to rotate No longer were the image physicalizations layered on top of him but they smoothly merged with his flesh and strengthened him

Did I just do it wrong the first time Or do you need a particular type of body for this Randidly chewed on his cheek as he watched the smooth flow of image physicalizations through him

As images steadily rose and dwelled within his flesh his Nether Core groaned and began to spin more rapidly to rival 5h3 3n34ty Randidly looked down at his rapidly healing right arm in wonder Even more than the physical aspects of this I suspect the image physicalizations can act as an amplifier for my images now Just like my body conducts the physicalizations the physicalizations conduct the images Will I be able to manifest a bit more of my images while on this dangerous mountain

The rising sound of the wind pulled Randidly gaze upward He couldnÆt resist a chuckle Unfortunately looks like I wonÆt get much of a break

Tsk ing Randidly examined his surroundings He remained on the slope of the mountain the force of the Grand Pattern had scarred the stone It looked like the area had experienced a carpet bombing Craters and meter deep gouges crisscrossed in a visible pattern But of course his eyes went to the more dangerous threat huge ten meter deep holes from the force spikes left Randidly barring his teeth

He had almost passed entirely through the first tier he apparently had kept moving even while unconscious Randidly pressed his lips together He had been able to endure when the second tier of this Grand Pattern had fallen but if the alignment happened again and he had to face the third tier in his current state

Randidly looked upward at the churning grey clouds above him Then he looked behind him at the smashed stone shards and debris that was all that remained of the path that he had taken to get here

He offered the watching curiosity in the core of the Grand Pattern storm a wicked smile I suppose the only way to go is up LetÆs see if I can improve more quickly than you can kill me

Chapter 1803

The disciples that followed the great personage who created the Grand Pattern gave up their names because their existence outside of the mountain had come to an end They resolved themselves to either comprehend the entirety or die trying Ultimately their identities mattered less than their attainments within the Grand Pattern

That sort of resolve paid dividends the official disciples were extremely powerful They controlled most of the core areas of the mountain always attempting to climb higher to comprehend one more secret of the Grand Pattern That became their entire reason for existence

Thus they referred to each other by number Not by seniority but by power which was the only truth that mattered in the Nexus

It was with great trepidation that Number One leaned against his cane and ascended the stone stairs to the Upper Summit Room Such was the reach of his influence that the torches flickered in time with his steps His face was unreadable due to both wrinkles and the rotating shadows He gathered momentum as he ascended ready for what was to come

Right above the Upper Summit Room was where the early disciples from before Number OneÆs time on the mountain carved veinsÆ through the interior of the mountain channeling some of the deadlier energies down from the Grand Pattern to create the web of tests that tortured the newer disciples and forced some of them to struggle along the surface to avoid the worst of the traps

Privately Number One believed this was not to assist in the training of the new arrivals but in fact to cull their numbers As he agreed with this principle Number One had taken care to stamp out all talk of removing the veins

Which only makes my current predicament more pathetic The lines on Number OneÆs face deepened ally he wouldnÆt care about the training camp at all However he had made a special invitation to an individual albeit before the chaotic rumblings in the Nexus His name was associated with the eventual outcomes of Randidly Ghosthound because he had extended the invitation and brought him to the mountain Considering the young manÆs talents Number One had been confident of him excelling through the trials of life and death that he and the other direct disciples had planned to amuse themselves But considering the unexpected interference

The perfect fuse to ignite Number OneÆs temper and competitiveness He ground his teeth enjoying the strained force in his jaw

Long ago during a time when their master had spoken to them freely and Number One struggled along as Number Seven the profound individual had sighed and shaken his head Number Seven why must you hold on to your pride so tightly It digs its spurs into your side constantly urging you forward when better judgment would reflect Someday it will dig your grave and lead you right into it

Although he had flushed and bowed his head to be reprimanded even then Number One had known the truth

Even if my pride may someday doom me it is only because of my pride that I push myself to the limits No power comes freely in the Nexus And this is the power that I have chosen

After firmly planting his cane on the ground Number One waved a hand and blasted open the high door to the Upper Summit Room The soft whistling music and the sounds of conversation stopped dead as Number One glared about at the weaklings arrayed in front of him

The hundred odd contestants for the training camp flinched back from his gaze lowering their eyes to the food and drink that the disciples provided to soften up those of weak heart A drunk trainee was one of the most amusing deaths Yet at the moment Number One couldnÆt care less about entertainment he wanted an explanation

The wide and spacious Upper Summit Room glittered with finery the wind veins engineered through the roof obstructed for the day and the patterns on the floor inert Having above a hundred participate was a problem but not one that the mountain didnÆt know how to deal with plenty would die in those first days to bring their numbers down to acceptable levels

But Number One had nothing to say to these ugly caterpillars He thumped forward the crowd clearing a path for him and approached the antechamber where the other disciples waited

Number One thrust aside a curtain and snarled immediately driven by righteous anger What is the meaning of this

Several figures in the low smoky room turned to face him The other Numbers hid smiles and acted like they didnÆt know why he would be so furious As though they didnÆt gossip about his pride every time he left the room His gaze was intense but none of them caved and responded for several seconds This didnÆt surprise Number One he was used to this band of fools playing dumb about the true moves they made

Randidly wiped the sweat from his brow and sat down cross legged on the stone path Occasionally wind blades cut sideways at him but they smashed against his body and disintegrated he now sat directly below the threshold to the second tier A few more steps and he would rise into an area dominated by the Grand Pattern that could actually damage him Not seriously but enough wind blades would break through his high Endurance and Uncommon Metabolism

His heartbeat quickened in anticipation But for now he swallowed that rising excitement and focused on his body

Specifically he looked at small spectral bits of light that floated toward him and settled on his image physicalizations Like looked like bits of ash drifting from a campfire except their glow was a cool blue As he absorbed more and more with his new Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil he could feel the condensed Aether sharpening and assuming more and more of the flavor of his images

A wind black cracked against his right shoulder splintering off bits of the black lacquer armor he received from the Grey Creature Almost instantly the flow of these strange drifting bits of glow accelerated toward the broken place to remake it in a superior fashion Randidly pursed his lips If Helen were here heh I wouldnÆt be able to deny that IÆm a bit of a masochist Even my body wants to be brutalized in order to grow stronger

Congratulations Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm has grown to Level 567

Congratulations Your Skill Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil has grown to Level 502

Randidly had been confused at first where these pieces of energy came from because they clearly improved his image physicalizations But then he realized that he was the source his own expansive consciousness and Willpower influenced the surroundings naturally From those influenced surroundings when flaws in his image physicalizations presented themselves these small notes volunteered themselves to improve him

Efficiently channel energy indeed

Luckily for me all that natural force above hits even harder The more I absorb the stronger the physicalizations will become Randidly muttered to himself as he glanced upward into the churning grey storm He felt the pseudo consciousness watching him steadily losing patience as Randidly dithered right at the edge Great wheels and gears of air curled in on themselves as the next stage of this testÆ readied itself

Excitement and responsibility warred inside RandidlyÆs heart Some part of him wished to pull out his PhilosopherÆs Key to confirm it could take him from this place should the danger of this test continue to rise as he ascended the mountain but the consciousness watched him closely enough that it would likely sense something from his Fatepiece And once he truly angered it he would not be able to remain here any longer

And thereÆs so much more growing to do RandidlyÆs eyes were bright IsnÆt this why I came here To push myself I thought I would focus on the Grand Pattern and my understanding and anticipation but look the Mountain generously decided to help me train my physical body and my understanding of Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko at the same time It would be rude to run away before sampling the feast my host has provided

During those frantic moments when air currents from the third tier had descended too much had happened too quickly He had not been able to manage the ripples of natural energy before they crashed over him with enough force to kill him So he had buckled down and focused only on his body he didnÆt have any spare attention for other Skills

Okay okay IÆm coming Randidly grinned as the wind above him began to howl its impatience He pulled out Acri and drew the spear through the air tasting the ripples Sulfur had grown back out to a functioning arm but remained dormant as it prepared for its next transformation But the impression that the living armor did bother to send him informed Randidly that it wouldnÆt mind any spare kinetic energy he found trying to murder him

Randidly dragged AcriÆs tip lazily in front of him I guess all of us are gluttons huh Well no matter LetÆs begin

He hopped up onto the ledge above him and spun Acri in a circle The Grand Pattern rotated and brought powerful wind blades down to meet him

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 498

Chapter 1804

Randidly scrutinized the three interconnected wind blades as they buzzed through the air toward him Wreathed in darkness from the steadily improving image physicalizations his left eye traced the complex lines of air that wove these three wind blades into a single dangerous whole Around it a whole slew of normal tier 2 wind blades drifted and swooped following the constant waltz of the Grand Pattern

He stood poised in the center of a deadly game calculating his best route forward

RandidlyÆs toes curled gripping the stone beneath his feet With several gracefully half steps he swayed between the appetizer wind blades and stepped into the small bubble of space before the more dangerous sewn together blade trio He lifted himself up onto the balls of his feet

Congratulations Your Skill Grand Perspective has grown to Level 376

He raised Acri and cut decisively dragging the brutally sharp edge along the wave of natural energy he had gathered At his urging the energy surged forward to meet the triple wind blade Immediately his eyes crinkled in triumph the strike severed the key ties that bound the three wind blades together Based on RandidlyÆs calculations now the other two should pass harmlessly by him

Smack Smack

Blood spurted from his left collarbone and right shoulder after an airflow he had missed in the chaotic churn of connections tugged the other to blades to lash at his body The trio of strikes was designed to snap shut like a bear trap as soon as they were disturbed RandidlyÆs accumulating image physicalizatinos blunted most of the damage but the tier two wind blades were still strong enough to cut into his flesh

Growling Randidly released his careful control of natural energy and just brute forced the followup avalanche of wind blades with Dreadful Alacrity After thrusting upward and unleashed a blast of natural force to obliterate the first wave of wind blades he stored away Acri and focused on his movements During his ascent to this he had learned from his mistakes of trying to catch back up with the pattern once he had been impacted it usually ended with him bloody and scowling

Better to just cut his losses and rely on his monstrous Stats His Grim Intuition tingled as he took in the entire storm system rushing down to wound him

The wind howled gleefully prodded by the watching storm to collapse on top of him now that it tasted his blood Randidly shuffled back and forth on the narrow path so quickly he left after images his bare feet unpleasantly warm from the friction between his callouses and the rough stone His eyes gleamed with purple black energy that gave him the insight to overcome the net of wind thrown at him

Congratulations Your Skill Revelations of the Atramentous Threshold has grown to Level 472

Congratulations Your Skill Dodge has grown to Level 333

After ten minutes of its bloodthirsty blitz the wind began to settle He could feel the storm rumbling above seemingly disappointed that it hadnÆt managed to worsen his injuries despite its attempts Already RandidlyÆs flesh knit closed his injuries erased just as thoroughly as though they had never existed

Not that the mountain should want me to bleed Randidly glanced backward Fist sized holes dotted the wrecked path behind him where his powerful blood had ate away at the stone mountain Just one more type of wreckage on this insane threat laden climb

However Randidly quickly turned forward and produced Acri once more He moved the spear head back and forth until it seemed to be swimming through the air accumulating natural energy as quickly as he could in the relatively calm air

At this point Randidly was a bit over halfway through the second tier of this storm on the mountain Constant torturing from the Grand Pattern had increased the efficiency of his image physicalizations and his familiarity with working within the bounds of his body His Nether roared through his veins empowering each of his steps Yet he still felt oddly stifled by the restrictions of the mountain unable to deal with the wind blades from afar

Which was why his current fixation was on natural energy

Of course Randidly sharp eyes followed the impact between the various wind blades and his his pseudo domain of natural energy The efficacy is increased when I establish control over an area ItÆs not just riples anymore but tides

BOOM BOOM BooM

Controlling space with his natural energy made him a larger target but Randidly could handle it Some of the wind blades were deflected while others were directly smashed to pieces However Randidly infiltrated a few of the glancing attacks with his tides and pulled them into his whirlwind directly Quickly they empowered his natural energy and whirled gleefully in the newly directed flows

Unfortunately the process of incorporating the wind blades required a vast impost of calculating power and understanding of the Grand Pattern So he spent more than he gathered and the size of his whirlwind shrank At the same time the storm above rumbled It was not a noise of fury but again just curiosity at his behavior

The thing didnÆt seem to care what Randidly did so long as he rushed up the side of the mountain

Grey clouds rapidly accumulated and shifted into a dark anvil directly above RandidlyÆs position Lesser clouds clustered around the main one like a fluffy skirt Distantly he sensed a tide of wind blades gliding down to test this new method of resistance he had developed

RandidlyÆs lips twitched The portion of his shirt not torn or crusted with dried blood was soaked with sweat Can you just give me a minute

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 504

The two triple blades finally caught up with him Randidly reached out with his much depleted natural energy and wormed his way into the connections He raced through the complicated flows his mind calculating rapidly the shape of these woven wind blades And soon a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth He had found the bow that held them together

Randidly smashed the core of the two triple blades with the last dredges of his natural energy just as they were about to cut into him But as he had hoped both unraveled once their cores had been destroyed leaving only a breath of wind to ruffle his hair

Congratulations Your Skill Grand Perspective has grown to Level

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 505

Randidly stored away Acri and then switched back to his intense dodging having completely run out of natural energy and feeling the impending rush of wind blades heading for him But just as he began to shuffle the storm above him rumbled

He glanced up and grimaced the storm produced almost a hundred triple wind blades right on the heels of the rush it had already unleashed Randidly could practically hear the stormÆs haughty tone Feeling smug for handling a few of these Well here is a hundred

RandidlyÆs competitiveness flared IÆm seriously going to climb to the summit of this place and crush you Just wait for me

The storm trembled and then belched out a giant sphere of ten interlaced wind blades that spun and rotated on itself It rolled down toward Randidly with all the slow inevitability of a bowling ball pushed by toddler

Chapter 1805

Perhaps due to the severity of the news Lady Iellaya could see the lines along Jeroac StomÆs annoying face deepen He took a long breath before he spoke It is difficult to describe the current tension within the Nexus Both in the orthodox factions and in smaller civilian groups Other Commandants have begun to move troops to surround Aether pumps A mysterious group attacked the home planet of Commandant Zettlequill massacring her descendants and most of her entire race It is impossible to prove but it is likely that the culprits are other forces within Military High Command Commandant Zettlequill hasnÆt yet reacted but that will only make the opposition bolder

Other civilian organizations are definitely accumulating forces in the shadows and it seems like they plan something large for while most of the Nexus is gathered next month for Don BeigonÆs third Mille celebration

Enough Commandant Wick said sourly with a rap of his knuckles on the desk He leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling his expression unreadable The room felt stuffy and small with the wafting intensity he released

The fact that he felt not an ounce of pleasure at hearing what befell ZettlequillÆs home planet proved to Lady Iellaya that the situation was just as bad as it seemed

Infighting still wracked the remnants of the Engraving Guild despite the other arms of the Nexus Labor Council trying to pacify the various groups and broker a peace Probably the intensity of that conflict was why Military High Command moved slowly but now the other large faction began to bare their teeth Elhume remained unresponsive to messages from their Commandants but that didnÆt mean the other side was similarly blacklisted Lady Iellaya wondered how Commandant Wick intended to handle this blatant affront to their honor

Jeroac continued to speak Since the most powerful member of the faction has gone to the Path to the Pinnacle we

The door to Commandant WickÆs office shattered and blasted open drawing the attention of all three of them For a second Lady IellayaÆs mind wondered if the opposing group was so bold to attack Commandant Wick directly but a complicated mix of relief and worry crossed Commandant WickÆs face made her realize that was not the case

The controlled power dispersed spraying bits of wood and dust It was Lady Iellaya just an entrance

For several seconds the threshold remained empty Then a woman in tight brown leather pants sauntered through the broken remnants of the door She had flaming red hair and a wide smile that raised the feathers along Lady IellayaÆs arms My my Wick I knew you were disrespectful but to think youÆd infected your subordinates with that same lazy and ungrateful attitude toward me Whatever did I do to deserve this

Commandant WickÆs face darkened and he moved to stand Grand Marshal Devick I assure you that I

Oh no need to stand the woman put one hand on her hips and waved the other casually Her fingertips spat pink sparks IsnÆt our relationship much more intimate than that

Lady Iellaya tried to bring her hand up in salute and stand at attention but realized she was completely frozen by the other womanÆs aura Her powerful image of the Peregrine Serpent seemed locked in stasis in her chest unable to even raise its head before this being the Speculum who had raised Commandant Wick Her feathers continued to tingle with worry

Almost uneasily Wick settled back into his chair Grand Marshal I have made a mess I apologize profuse

The grey clouds pulsed and churned reflection time was almost over Randidly groaned and straightened rotating his shoulders to loosen up his joints before the next wave of attacks descended At this point his torso was completely bare almost every part of him had been brutalized by the vicious blades of wind He replaced his pants but sacrificing another shirt to this mountain seemed pointless

Sulfur remained in its suspended coma state happily gathering more kinetic energy from the wind blades Randidly didnÆt begrudge him this he knew that the more power his Soulseed absorbed before he awoke the more impressive the shift would be

Meanwhile Randidly continued to gather insight into both the Grand Pattern and natural energy to the point that his overwhelming 2499 Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae overheated and steamed in his Soulspace And honestly the effects were not as great as he had been expecting

He attempted to recall the effortless grace that the Nether King used to manipulate his intricate patterns but the more Randidly tried to imitate that method the more he felt himself struggling for one simple but ridiculously impossible reason the Nether King somehow managed to control a lossless system

Everything around the Nether King had been part of the magic Nothing was accidental in the arrangement His understanding and poise toed the line of perfection Meanwhile Randidly spread out his Willpower as much as he could and pressed it against the natural energy but he couldnÆt manage anything close to that It was a worrisome sign but he had no choice but to recognize that he couldnÆt just blindly imitate the Nether King

In this case my powerful strengths hold me back Randidly thought bitterly as he raised Acri and began to gather natural energy in the face of the darkening clouds First the very Stat that has brought me so much success Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae Moirae is a being that spun the fates of mortals It is a gift of prophecy However from even what IÆve seen with my experiences with karma fate isnÆt absolute My evolved Control relates to having a high degree of control over the inputs not a perfect prediction of the outputs As long as imperfection exists this implied image isnÆt a match for the Nether KingÆs methods

Secondly I basically have the same restriction due to Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko Tides are predictable broadly but its the finicky and infinite interactions of each wave and current that are tripping me up This is not a Skill designed for fine detail but for sweeping power So how can I stop butting up against my weaknesses and emphasize my strengths

Randidly bounced on the balls of his feet feeling the constant surge of Nether through his body His first thought was to just develop enough natural energy that he could deal with the wind blades sloppily crush them directly He had even made some small progress when he struggled through the first wind blade orb to do exactly that

The wind blade orbs had a tight cage of natural force at their core that held them together and guided the dangerous blade edges Randidly had struck at that and eventually dismantled the orb

However that watching consciousness in the storm immediately adjusted the wind blade orb to have tighter bonds and take up a smaller space making RandidlyÆs methods much less effective They shrank from a massive five meter in diameter monster to a more reasonable three meters His previous method would be extremely difficult to replicate And somehow Randidly sensed that as long as he ran away from meeting the wind blades directly the storm would adjust

Which really left him only a single choice deepen his understanding of the Grand Pattern so he could pull the orbs apart

Ultimately his performance at the Imperium Ball and now advancing through the first and part of the second tier relied on him cheating He could ignore his mistakes on this mountain because of his powerful body Perhaps more importantly rather than relying on understanding to handle the approaching wind blades he avoided them with his powerful Grim Intuition and high Dreadful Alacrity

Perhaps there was no real difference between observing and reacting rather than already knowing the answer intuitively but Randidly had no other ideas at the moment

Besides he slapped his fist against his chest as the storm began spitting out triple wind blades to warm him up If nothing else I donÆt mind letting you carve the methods of the Grand Pattern into my body Do your worst

Chapter 1806

Randidly staggered and coughed up a mouthful of blood But in the next second his eyes flashed and he shuffled to the side in a sharp movement The giant wind blade orb ground against the side of the mountain skimming tiny slivers of stone off and slicing several cuts across RandidlyÆs cheek as the orb spun toward him

His natural energy had been spent handling the triple wind blades that arrived as a prelude His body was nearing his limits considering how densely packed his wounds were from the first two wind blade orbs that he had fought against today However this time Randidly had an idea

Maybe itÆs just the concussion IÆm nursing but I think IÆve been going about this all wrong

His emerald eyes flashed as he stepped underneath one of the wind blades that formed a cage on the orb and hopped into the middle of the churning winds Behind him the orb snapped shut as another wind blade cut savagely across but he was already inside of it He took several short steps following the grinding movement of the wind blade orb as it drifted to the left He could feel it turning sluggish as it struggled to understand how to strike at him The other triple wind blades spiraled around above him also halted by this movement

Randidly grinned and grasped with his hands pulling a few thin tendrils of natural energy out of the surroundings Then he inserted them into the cage around him that managed the ten wind blades trying to influence it

Congratulations Your Skill Grand Perspective has grown to Level

He tumbled forward propelled by the implosion as the orb tried to contract and crush him at the same moment he tried to infiltrate its natural energy flows The result was a total collapse The other blades from the orb dispersed harmlessly but the waiting triple wind blades instantly cut down toward the off balance Randidly

Cursing he flared as much of his image physicalizations as he could manage and stepped forward to meet the attacks His feet blurred and he weaved his head in a figure eight If nothing else his physical evasiveness that didnÆt rely on Chimeric Impunity had been transformed by this experience

Congratulations Your Skill Dodge has grown to Level 339

Congratulations Your Skill Dodge has grown to Level 354

The onslaught of triple wind blades lasted a long time before the storm eased back down to single wind blades He could almost feel the storm reprimanding him for making such a foolish mistake as trying to step into the orb Randidly stumbled and shook his head his body buzzing and muscles numb Small motes of blue light furiously gathered across his body and remade his image physicalizations in an even more substantive form However RandidlyÆs eyes remained bright as he looked up at the sky ThatÆs definitely an answer I just handled it poorly Next time

He dodged casually through the single wind blades studying the storm above As he expected the process continued to the next stage where it began to send triple wind blades down to harass him Randidly skipped up the stone path dodging and dismantling them with natural energy with marked cheer As though tired of his behavior the storm spat out a wind blade orb

It rolled through the air his punishmentÆ for his developing capability to handle triple wind blades

Randidly grinned His steps quickened as he tried to keep himself in the best shape possible for the orb to arrive Once again he dodged sideways when it smashed onto his position on the path Then just like before he hopped for the middle

The cage of wind blades snapped closed more quickly than previously but Randidly happily used Sulfur to deflect the force closing in around him He slipped through The potent natural energy of the Grand Pattern buzzed as it once more sought a method to hurt him The grey clouds above rumbled

Randidly couldnÆt help but chuckle Oh I finally have your attention But itÆs too late for this to be handled easily giving me that grace period was a mistake

RandidlyÆs hands and tail flowed through the air gathering up the dispersing ripples from the wind blade impacts He carefully wound the natural energy and kept it within the condensed ring that the storm had made for this wind blade orb It was a profound exercise in restriction but Randidly could help but chuckle as he felt the increasingly violent pulses from above

The triple wind blades arrived and howled toward his hamster ball a dozen at a time Randidly raised his hands and guided streams of energy to join the cage around him empowering his own defenses

Congratulations Your Skill Natural Insight has grown to Level 381

The outside of RandidlyÆs wind blade orb began to slow its roll up the mountain and warp underneath the pressure Randidly quickly urged more of his gathered natural energy on new looping patterns through the interior Just like Nether flowed through his body and empowered him without trying to manipulate his limbs so too did this natural energy just form a support system beneath the premade cage of force He insulted the core flows of energy from outside attacks continuing to stroll forward

A triple wind blade wedged its way into RandidlyÆs orb prying open the cage and damaging some of the frame More surged toward that weakness but Randidly spun in place and dragged the orb with him shielding the weakness with natural energy

IÆm getting better at managing the natural energy without it intruding on the Grand Pattern but I let this wind blade orb take too much damage in those first hits Despite his confident expression Randidly was very realistic about his outlook A few more bombardments and this will collapse on top of me The downside of using these cages is my mobility is restricted when everything goes to shit But so long as I keep moving unpredictably

The sky shuddered under the force of the consciousnessÆs decision The grey clouds spat out three more wind blade orbs that rushed down toward Randidly On their heels a thousand triple wind blades screamed their support

His lips twitched even as he continued to gather and release natural energy against the constant barrage from the triple wind blades He also began pushing the damaged cage to ascend more quickly It acquiesced begrudgingly at this point the wind blade orb was like a horse too exhausted to even buck and try and throw him off

And when the three new wind blade orbs slammed into the ground to his front back left and back right

Randidly twisted his hand and the framework that had supported his little defensive vehicle turned into a weapon to tear it apart While most of the wind blades and gathered force careened forward to smash the orb blocking his path Randidly accelerated toward one of the ones behind him

Why refuse such a generous offer of a new ride

Chapter 1807

The group was an awkward one as they stood in a loose jumble and considered one another While Edraine and Velio Dunn had struggled to pry open first the Patron of Blades and then AbyssÆs cells the Patron of the Sun and the Patron of Blooms both returned They seemed to slip easily back into the Sanctum However their expressions were unreadable as they watched the two other Patrons being liberated

Neither offered any explanation of where they had gone or what they had done

Despite how brutal the work was to release the Patrons Edraine felt a sense of disappointment as they finished It was still far away from becoming anything concrete but she began to feel the tantalizing sensation of a new method of leveraging her image To her surprise her time in the Sanctum had been a great benefit to her personally Having a barrier with sufficient strength allowed her to test out a lot of methods she had only theorized in the past

Now it just remains to be seen whether anything good will come from liberating these thankless Patrons Edraine thought as she examined them The Patron of Blades a remarkably mild older man with grey hair and a slender build turned to Edraine and cocked an eyebrow From his expression he had read her thoughts and mocked her gently for her skepticism

Luckily the rest seemed to be too caught up in regarding each other warily to notice her lack of faith in their abilities The Patron of the Abyss was a pulsing purple amoeba that both the Patron of the Sun and the Patron of Blooms regarded warily leaving only Velio to step forward and speak

Now that you are all free I think itÆs time to talk about the next steps Velio said His expression began to twist As we discussed earlier there is never going to be a better time than now to strike the forces of the Nexus are in disarray Those that havenÆt yet will soon begin fighting against themselves to jockey for better position in the aftermath If we strike at some of the aggregate Aether pumps we can cripple the Nexus

Touching the Aether lines will draw the attention of Elhume without delay The Patron of Blades said quietly His eyes were intense with an obvious desire to act but he shook his head at the prospect Despite everything else perhaps because of how he betrayed us itÆs obvious that we cannot face him directly Without a better plan than hacking at the Aether supply we should remain in the shadows and gather information

Still we wonÆt have another opportunity Velio urged but he was stopped by a raised hand from the Patron of the Sun

Truth be told none of us quite knows what happened back then We were betrayed yes and very quickly Elhume gave the rest of us Patrons up to appease the other factions but we were not there when the betrayal happened ThatÆs why

ThatÆs why we still live The Patron of the Abyss hissed Small orange sunbursts of orange light radiated out from its body

For several seconds there was a heavy silence Then the Patron of Blooms cleared her throat During my examination of the Nexus I discovered traces of some of our previously liberated fellows For whatever reason the Patron of FeathersÆ trail was particularly strong I believe that before we attempt to plan anything we should get a better understand of what occurred Hopefully we can capture her and figure out the current situation The Patron of Feathers was there along with the Patron of Truth and the Borrowed right at the end of the ritual

Edraine cleared her throat and spoke for the first time since they had liberated the Patrons Her curiosity moved her even as she tried to find a few concrete details that she could use in the future May I ask what do you think happened

The Patron of the SunÆs face darkened The Patron of Blooms flexed her wrapped vine body The Patron of Blades sighed

The Patron of the Abyss answered her Elhume must have run out of power He felt his limits and considering his pride likely panicked So he devoured the Patron of the Borrowed the weakest of us and the Patron of the Truth the most trusting of us to accomplish his mad desire

Congratulations Your Skill Natural Insight has grown to Level 401

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 515

Congratulations Your Skill Natural Insight is absorbing your insights Synchronicity detected

Congratulations Your Skill Natural Insight has evolved into Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge Skill Levels will be maintained Your ability to recognize patterns has greatly increased Your touch has the slightest hint of charm to loose natural energy Effects increase with Skill Level

Congratulations Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm has grown to Level 570

Randidly cackled he couldnÆt help himself He had closed the distance between himself and the storm The feeling of having the capability to resist directly was a good one

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BooM BOOM

He jogged forward standing in the middle of his hijacked wind blade orb His hands and tail were in constant motion orchestrating the waves of natural energy that resisted the constant bombardment from the storm At this point the clouds had darkened to a pure black It lingered above him like an inkblot The consciousness at the core was totally focused on Randidly unleashing a constant rain of triple wind blades

Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 402

But Randidly didnÆt mind As he proceeded forward his understanding of his of the Grand Pattern deepened and he could use his mobile maelstrom to match the attacks from above Even with the physical restriction from being forced from the path he made a steady pace However

Randidly grimaced at the space in front of him even as he continued to battle against the constant attacks Time to step onto the third tier huh

A gorge ran through the mountain in front of him The other side was cloaked in a thin mist As it had previously his perception was almost completely blocked A thin rope bridge swayed across the gap completely free of wind blades Even though it stunk like a trap Randidly refused to back down He had built up plenty of momentum

He was ready

He stepped onto the bridge that divided the second and third tiers

Chapter 1808

RandidlyÆs carefully constructed maelstrom of force melted around him as he stepped off the edge of the cliff and onto the bridge The wind blade orb dissipated as though it had never existed The remaining natural energy he had gathered seemed to melt and seep through his fingers Behind him the attacks from the consciousness slammed into the mountainside cutting deep gouges in the stone However none of the attacks came close to the moorings of the bridge

Some strange barrier divided the space based on the same principles that seemed to animate the ominous grey storm looming above him

An actual break Randidly muttered as he took several steps forward and no attacks came But as he proceeded across the creaky structure he felt the pressure on him steadily growing From the 20% physical restriction he had felt since leaving the path it began to steadily edge upward

Randidly pursed his lips If itÆs really based on the tier it might go all the way up to 30% in the next area

A 30% total restriction on his body especially considering his high Stats Several more steps forward didnÆt change or accelerate the rise in restrictions Which gave him some freedom to examine the surroundings a bit more closely

Randidly could feel the consciousness above him its animosity curiously wiped away churning within the confines of the rumbling ceiling Just like Randidly was being steadily restricted the storm seemed to be going through some changes as well He strolled forward inspecting the situation of his body

Absolute Timing continued to insist that he had only spent a few hours traversing through the upper portion of the second tier while his growth in already high Level Skills seemed to hint that the true time was closer to weeks Clicking his tongue Randidly continued forward to the middle of the bridge watching streams of mist pour off the opposite edge and into the gorge like the mournful ghosts of waterfalls

In the middle of the bridge there was a small sign that caught RandidlyÆs eyes It sat above a miniature square filled with the tiles that supposedly represented the Grand Pattern

For reaching this point you have earned a break In the Third Step the restriction will advance to 30% at minimum However additional time in the transition stage beyond your allotted break result in a heavier burden moving forward

Feeling the gradual increase in restrictions across his body he could understand what the sign was getting at lingering too long would increase the restrictions in the future Based on the pace of the tightening grip an individual had a full six hours to rest before they moved forward to the Third StepÆ

Randidly sat down and got into a meditative position in front of the Grand Pattern tiles IÆm not exhausted but I can feel the first signs of strain Since I have this chance IÆm not going to miss it Especially since my Grim Intuition will be restricted in the Third Step actually understanding the Grand Pattern will become paramount

although it is a bit difficult to see how this rhythm game format was developed from this fucked up storm

There was a buzzing flash as the Dungeon activated in one of the more deserted perimeter asteroids orbiting around the Nexus Despite the powerful principles at play no one noticed there was not a single soul close enough to sense the shift

Considering the current situation in the Nexus everyone had their own problems to deal with

For a brief second a yawning portal opened between the fabric of the worlds From that opening two figures stepped out The front person was an elfen man with expressive eyes and a somewhat dazed smile on his face The second individual was slender and streamlined leading a surly chitinous mount and carrying a lance against his shoulder

The two walked out of the Dungeon onto the dusty staging area and looked up at a vast sea of brilliant stars

LayÆmel Tuellethe stretched his arms toward the sky His shoulder popped and he grinned so widely that his cheeks began to cramp We made it out We fucking did it Ha Hahahaha We did it

By the words of Elhume itself you little prick The leader of the group waved a hand and the soldiers spread out into the surrounding area Take him boys Kill his friend and make sure he has a more sympathetic attitude for the questioning

Vrrhh

There was another flash and suddenly another group of soldiers appeared Their leader LayÆmel recognized as Lady Iellaya But before she stepped forward she shot a helpless glance at a fiery haired woman behind her who simply waved her forward with a cheery smile and spun a small chain in her hand Yet immediately the danger sense that LayÆmel developed in the Dungeon began to tingle

Lady Iellaya Shrak bared his teeth So the dog of Wick dares stick her nose into our business What do you think we are doing

apprehending a suspect at the order of my superior Lady Iellaya almost seemed tired as she stepped forward But when the first group of soldiers raised their weapons her expression hardened Believe me when I say that itÆs in your best interest to walk away Shrak Otherwise I cannot guarantee what will happen

The two groups of soldiers quietly drew their weapons LayÆmelÆs heart began to pound They all seemed to be here for him apparently due to his connection to the Swacc Family but he could also tell that this wasnÆt really about him at this point The two factions behind the soldiers seemed to have a grudge and they were perfectly willing to use him as a pretext to escalate His skin tingled with the ambient bloodlust

The worst part was that he knew that no matter which side one they seemed serious about detaining him Had something catastrophic happened to the Swacc Family Had they really offended Elhume

LayÆmel took several steps backward to stand next to the Lancer Everything was developing way too quickly When the fighting starts escape

Again the Lancer shook his head but the desire to protect his Dungeon companion blazed brightly in LayÆmelÆs chest and annihilated the creeping fear that had clogged his thoughts for the past few minutes Listen to me I donÆt know whatÆs going on but they clearly want to capture me And as an extra piece if they catch you they might just kill you so

Shrak lurched backward blood dripping from his face More than anything else Shrak looked aghast at some point a rusty metal hook at the end of a long chain had embedded itself in his face He looked up and that fiery haired woman was suddenly standing in front of him Her hands blurred and she whipped forward several other chains

Spikes drilled through ShrakÆs boots and pinned him to the ground A larger hook seemed to appear in her hand before it sunk into the soft flesh of the soldierÆs midsection The most horrifying part was although the movements of the fiery haired woman seemed unassuming everything happened before LayÆmel could even respond

The unfortunate Shrak color draining from his face even as the blood drained from his body realized something as he stared in horror at the woman Speculum

Yup She grinned even as she produced a third hook and ripped out his throat with it The body collapsed in front of her ShrakÆs subordinates frozen by this sudden display of power His torn esophagus bounced across the dusty ground and rolled to a stop

The woman didnÆt seem to use images at all just overwhelmed their leader

The fiery haired woman chuckled and snapped her fingers A score of rusty hooks at the end of chains condensed in the air behind her They clinked and twisted like infuriated rattlesnakes ready to strike Honestly can you really blame me for this Who would be so foolish as to fight against me Ah IÆm already being merciful by trying to explain something so basic to you worthless dead bodes

The hooks surged forward as she shook her head LayÆmel blinked and the ground was soaked and blood and covered with bodies The wet sucking noises of metal being torn from meat echoed in his ears

While a white faced Lady Iellaya simply watched the woman skipped over to LayÆmel and smiled at him You are the one who tried to send a message to the Swacc Family huh What a naughty boy We will have to figure out what the appropriate punishment is for someone like you

Chapter 1809

Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 412

Randidly released a breath and opened his eyes His time on the swaying rope bridge was almost up He had used it as best as he could both resting his mind and then reviewing the movements of the Grand Pattern that he had witnessed in the Second StepÆ of the mountain Although his Skill Level gains during this break time were small he was much more confident in predicting the movements of the storm

In terms of utilization of his Skill Levels Randidly had become much more confident

However His eyes flashed with a manic stubbornness as he looked at the drifting currents of mist that masked the Third Step of this damnable mountain The murky depths remained impenetrable to his gaze Somehow his perception was limited by the aura of the mountain

Still Randidly shook himself off and then walked toward the far end of the bridge as he made his final mental preparations From what he could tell the dangers of this next step were two fold first that his senses were muffled and second that the damage dealt by the wind blades sharply increased

To the point that being hit directly with as few as five wind blades posed a serious threat to RandidlyÆs life

Randidly stretched out his hand and touched the mists that flowed down into the bottomless seeming gorge Immediately his expression flickered This sensation itÆs similar to what I felt on the frontlines but not the same The faux Nether stars Looks like the mountain altered the base restriction on the presence of Nether and attempted to replace it with something more manageable Is that also why perception is so restricted

Well attempted to replaceÆ is too meek a word for this mist Whoever created this place clearly succeeded But thereÆs something stale about it And dangerous Even from just touching the edge I feel a pervasive melancholy

Still the weird emotional forces that Randidly felt only made him hesitate for a second His six hour break was almost entirely up Not that he couldnÆt handle it but he didnÆt want needless physical restrictions So he took one last breath of the clean air on the bridge and stepped back forward onto solid ground covered with a thick and muffling layer of mist His toes tingled at the slightly damp stone ground

As he passed through the threshold he glanced down at the churning life force within his left arm Sulfur continued to digest his gains Keep sleeping buddy IÆve got this from here

With another step Randidly found himself in a grey expanse his perception constricted down to about five meters in every direction The cotton edged obscura was almost comforting Although he could not see it any longer he could sense the curiosity in the storm above him activating and targeting him once more He couldnÆt predict the details but Randidly didnÆt doubt that it was churning out wind blades to harry him

Deadly wind blades that could rip away his tough flesh and lay his bones bare

Of course this was early in the pattern Which meant that the attacks would be rather formulaic and spaced apart to give him a chance to acclimate With that space Randidly intended to study the surroundings a bit

First without his path he was literally just on a grey rocky slope The globe of his awareness showed the gentle rise of the ground beneath him but Randidly didnÆt intend on walking directly upward he wanted to feel confident in the current pattern before he reached the halfway point of the Third Step and had to deal with intermittent force spikes

Congratulations Your Skill Tide of the Void has grown to Level 399

Secondly once he was immersed in it that sense of depressing melancholy grew stronger It directly tried to influence him Randidly happily allowed the foreign emotion that attempted to worm its way into his heart to be devoured by the Stillborn Phoenix With such a constant pressure from the outside the Egg of Depression could finally open its wide maw and feast to its heartÆs content

As he moved further away from the starting point the remnants thinned out But there were still about a hundred shades that lingered in the fake Nether around him repeating their endless final struggles on the mountain

After sifting through about twenty most of which were quickly slaughtered with upsetting regularity Randidly finally latched onto a single remnant and observed it closely The figure was a short woman with spiky hair As she moved forward she effortlessly stepped around the various wind blades that lashed at her The orientation she dealt with was different than RandidlyÆs but her confidence was palpable It was clear that she had a deep understanding of the pattern

The mist continued to churn above evidence of the growing movement of wind blades above him Watching her movements was a strain on RandidlyÆs attention because he truly could not slacken his guard against the wind blades Their edge would cut him deeply if they landed on his body Yet he could glimpse a deeper understanding of the Grand Pattern by watching her decisive steps

The corner of RandidlyÆs smile curled upward as he continued to wade forward in the mist gradually imitating the womanÆs shade and responding to the wind blades as soon as they cut into his bubble of perception He spoke out loud enjoying the way his voice echoed on the empty mountainside Of course avoiding the Grand Pattern entirely is not my path But having this ability in my back pocket can only be a good thing right

Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy with the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 414

The mist began to churn with the accumulating force of the storm The Grand Pattern shifted toward a more difficult segment Wind blades cut through and crashed into RandidlyÆs surroundings as he lightly waltzed forward But as the intensity picked up Randidly raised his right hand and began to drag his fingers through the thick air As he did so he couldnÆt help but chuckle the conducive fake Nether made it comically easy to accumulate and retain natural energy

Plus with the raw force contained in these extremely sharp wind blades

Alright then You think you know how to brew up a storm Well let me show you what Randidly Ghosthound can do He grinned upward and began to swirl force around him in a very particular pattern

Wind blades began to rain down more quickly a sign that the consciousness sensed what he was doing and wanted to stop him but Randidly had observed the remnants for long enough that he could predict the general shape of the responses Even as a fragile framework of energy flows emerged around him he climbed the mountain with just as much evasion as a phantom

The wind above began to howl and the blades came more quickly aiming for his vitals They traveled so quickly from the edge of his perception to his body that even Randidly would have struggled to just rely on Reaction to cope considering the physical restrictions

Yet RandidlyÆs eyes danced He truly began to see the Grand Pattern And as long as these wind blades obeyed their own rules they could not hurt him

After he burst several steps forward to avoid several dangerous ambushes the energy flows solidified Randidly grinned from the middle of his own wind blade orb empowered with the dangerous force of the Third Step As soon as it came into being the wind blades cut toward it not even worrying about hurting the Randidly strolling within its framework Since all he was doing was twisting the forces to balance themselves out he didnÆt even need to worry about the wind blades being more dangerous

He redistributed the natural energy he had gathered from the vicious attacks and allowed this storm to grind against itself

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 516

LetÆs begin Randidly said lightly Natural energy churned around him dragging more and more mist together into a hissing maelstrom

Chapter 1810

Number One dragged himself up through the empty stone tunnels scowling as he wondered whether this would be a waste of time The noise of his cane bounded off the walls back and forth seeking an escape from the rock tomb The interior of the mountain might seem like a more mild alternative to the Paths of Blood and Spirit but the Path of Bone had its own dangers

Especially to those who lingered too long out of the cleansing winds of the Grand Pattern The mental fatigue killed more disciples than anything else in this mountain

Ignoring the whispers in the darkness Number One continued his ascent He reached into himself and found the feelings that had been stewing for so long ready for this chance to be seen Righteous indignation Pride Condescension And considering that he was heading to meet with Number Four the slightest prickle of fear

How strong am I A more detached part of Number One wondered When was the last time I needed to struggle to survive

Those emotions arrayed themselves on his face as he reached the mouth of a tunnel and knocked his wooden cane against the wall After a few seconds of silence a voice answer Come in

Number One walked forward mildly curious despite himself to see how the obnoxious Number Four lived He walked into the low illumination of candles and was stunned even though he had long suggested that the boyish Disciple Number Four was a deviant

Number Four sat at the other end of the cave peering out through several small holes he had bored out from his cave system to the surface of the mountain Restrictive mists and the dangerous winds of the Grand Pattern seeped through those holes gradually dispersing in the rather spacious cave But what caught Number OneÆs attention were the long shelves that Number Four had carved into every inch of the cave walls

Each bit of space had a glass jar that contained a dried flower As Number one looked around he saw a hundred different varieties each flower had its own shape its own faded color its own size and bloom Roses and chrysanthemums tulips and daisies wildflowers and carnations They were arranged by colored creating a slow shifting rainbow tainted by the grey and brown of stalled decay

Number Four acting the part of the dedicated disciple turned as though only now noticing Number OneÆs presence He was short and slight looking more like a gangly teenager than the seven hundred year old schemer that he was Following Number OneÆs gaze Number Four grinned Ah my collection I offer entrance tickets to the training camp for any flower that IÆve never seen before After a few camps here and there weeding out the repeats IÆm quite proud of my collection ItÆs my one indulgence here

Number One walked slowly forward deciding to ignore the wall of preserved life He didnÆt need to ask what weeding out the repeatsÆ meant He said When I heard that you wished to return my book to me I was quite motivated to get it back Only now have I recalled how much IÆve missed its contents

Number FourÆs expression didnÆt even flicker at the sarcasm of Number One He pulled the book where it had been tucked at the end of one of the shelves Of course As one of our MasterÆs favorite novels there are certainly profound lessons to be found within the story

Number One walked over and grabbed the book Number Four didnÆt release it so both remained frozen with the book bridging the distance between them

I believe I know who sabotaged your invitee

Number One flushed He had known that Number Four wished to discuss something privately which was why he had given the pretext of this forgotten book Yet certainly this wasnÆt what he had expected to hear His emotions trembled He growled back I hope you also have some proof that it isnÆt you the most likely suspect I will not stomach more lies from you

Number FourÆs smile was slightly hurt Now Number One I hope you have more faith in me than that Do you think I would do something so meaningless and spiteful as this Truly it is an affront to your dignity that this Ghosthound inexplicably happened upon a Path of Blood But your majesty and talent remain unaffected This attack was remarkably petty

which was not to say that Randidly didnÆt benefit as whirlwinds clashed against wind blades and his maelstrom rumbled forward Wielding this was hugely beneficial to his understanding of the Grand Pattern and also the organic mimicking arrangement of Nether generally His energies stretched beyond the limits of his senses so honestly it was a good thing that the natural patterns could fend for themselves if they could not the whole operation would be ground down and collapse beneath the scrutiny of that consciousness waiting above

With the mental load eased Randidly watched the shade he followed with half closed eyes His senses sang with the whirling force of natural energy arrangement itself into true tides flowing out from this mobile and miniature sea Despite the restrictions of the mountain he was quite relaxed To the point that he began to lose track of time and simply enjoying the slow insights he accumulated

Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy of the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 429

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 530

Randidly was eventually forced from his leisurely walk by the shade being abruptly obliterated only a few meters in front of him The attack was only in the specterÆs world not his own so he received only emotional damage He slowed and frowned around at the surroundings

From the little he could see Randidly now walked onto a pitted slope The edges of most of those holes might have been softened but he recognized almost immediately what he was seeing

While he was lost in the patterns Randidly had approached the halfway point of the Third Step The deadly force spikes waited for him like the jaws of a bear trap hidden in scattered leaves

Randidly bowed his head briefly the energy churning around him to continually resist wind blades Thank you for your assistance It is tragic that you died so suddenly but due to your assistance I promise IÆll reach the summit of this place

Yet when he raised his head Randidly stiffened The fake Nether around him was pulsing and writhing The Stillborn Phoenix complained that it hadnÆt been able to eat any emotions in a while so he focused more on the lingering remnants to determine the source He figured that this area would have even more diminished presence yet around him

Fuck IÆm the source

Trembling Randidly turned and opened his senses as much as he could go Behind him some stumbling and gasping and others confident Randidly saw thousands of shades walking in hamster balls of wind blades The more he blinked the more he couldnÆt avoid the realization that these remnants were using his Skills too Much more poorly than he did because he watched several wind blade orbs faltering and cracking open against their own spectral onslaught but still

What the hell is going on Randidly muttered watching the surging army of remnants marching past him and challenging the waiting force spikes Most were directly annihilated although some just had large chunks ripped out of the edges of their wind blade orbs and then were eviscerated by wind blades

Yet only a second later they had reformed and tried again seeking a new way forward RandidlyÆs skin burned from the sensation of this fake Nether absorbing something from him and giving it to these remnants Or rather than taking they simply copied

Somehow this fake Nether reflected his Skills out to all the lingering remnants And quite a few seemed willing to give it a try

Chapter 1811

Randidly had to press his eyes shut and focus on nothingness to give his overwrought Grim Intuition a brief break The conductivity of the fake Nether and the sheer amount of remnants that were surging forward with various knock off Amenonuhoko Skills meant that the demand on his senses increased exponentially So many insubstantial forms were layered on top of one another in the course of their determined movements approaching but never reaching physical presence He tried to observe only a few but the projections continued to overlap one another to the point of being an indistinguishable gelatinous mass

Still the more I watch them the more useful they become Randidly thought as he opened his eyes once more and scanned the surroundings Even while his own maelstrom of natural force sustained itself by grinding against the stormÆs continued attacks he observed his little mimics being summarily smashed to bits by the intermittent force spikes that hammered down on them in a cosmic game of a whack a mole

He watched coolly as their bodies were obliterated limbs smashed to spectral paste organs directly annihilated and whole individuals directly forced to start their attempts again by the ragings of the Grand Pattern The experience began to take an emotional toll on Randidly in addition to the mental one But he continued to watch scanning for a pattern within the violence

Even after fifteen minutes of stalling the combination of information overload and the shifting varied perspective they all faced meant that Randidly was having a hard time picking out the pattern of their descent so he could avoid a similar fate

Abruptly he turned to the side because he noticed that one shade was standing very prominently next to him without throwing their body forward And the shade was looking directly at him

To his surprise it was the confident stepping woman that Randidly had followed to reach this point regarding him with a warm smile Thanks for the help Most new arrivals arenÆt as weirdly influential as you seem to be They join up but they are so lacking in presence that we barely notice you know Which is why so many of us have been stuck here in the Third Step for so long

Randidly nodded slowly The woman kept her hair relatively short hanging in ghastly strands down to her chin to frame her face He replied wondering how much awareness she possessed donÆt mention it If IÆm being honest I didnÆt even notice that I was influencing you all until you caught up to me And to get to this point I followed you personally your previous path so I did learn a lot from you as well IÆm Randidly Ghosthound And you

We donÆt have names The woman shrugged Just the desire to make it to the Fifth Step and escape this hell

So you really are trapped here Randidly pressed his lips together and examined the strange fake Nether again By the energy of this mountain I assume

The woman tilted her head to the side Then she moved in several extremely quick box steps avoiding several triple wind blades that shot toward her in her version of the mountain When she had settled a look of understanding came across her face Ah trapped You believe that we are dead and linger here while you are the only one alive Because none of us have names and we can attempt the climb the mountain endlessly But perhaps you are just as trapped as us only you havenÆt realized it yet Or perhaps even if I donÆt remember the details of my life they never existed what if I was raised somewhere that did not feel the need to name its people

You are remarkably optimistic Randidly responded feeling slightly unwilling to attack the womanÆs strange theories even if he was dubious He turned his attention back to the front where the swarm of specters continued to push further up the slope Some abandoned RandidlyÆs energy maelstrom in favor of a more mobile approach while others continued to grind forward as a way to resist the other attacks

Force spikes continued to blast the bold trailblazers but the sheer weight of their numbers and their ability to recover eventually allowed them to advance The strange tingling on RandidlyÆs skin continued but now that he examined them more closely he realized that some genuine connections of Nether were beginning to form between himself and these specters

Influence +27

Influence +44

Likely my own Nether becomes a grounding point that allows them to retain some more of their memories from their previous iteration Randidly realized as he began examing the budding connections Otherwise if they could remember and respond this whole time they wouldnÆt have been stuck here for so long

So the Fifth Step contains the summit Randidly asked changing the subject and turning back to the woman

Congratulations Your Skill Nether Sensation has grown to Level 423

Almost unconsciously Randidly glanced at the woman next to him She had been intently studying RandidlyÆs manipulation of Cutting TIdes of Amenonuhoko and incorporating his abilities into her own attempt But at his glance She clicked her tongue Oh donÆt give me that look DidnÆt I tell you that this sort of living is fine I just called it hell because shit doesnÆt anything youÆve done for a long time eventually become hell And IÆve been here

For a brief moment the womanÆs eyes became cloudy Then she snapped back to focus that sharp intelligence cutting through the fog Well a long time But itÆs worth it ThatÆs why we are all still here still struggling Because the summit is worth it And also in life what else is there truly but the eternal present and the mountain in front of you that you wish to climb

So are you ready to get going ThereÆs no rush to through yourself into the jaws of the beast but IÆm sure the pressure youÆre enduring by waiting isnÆt small

Randidly nodded slowly He ignored the tragic fate of these shades and admitted that the nameless and insubstantial woman was right about one thing right now nothing mattered but the challenge in front of him

He raised his hands and his tail and rapidly began to churn the natural energy he was absorbing from the stormÆs attacks The fog shuddered beneath the force of the tide he was creating but it continued to stubbornly restrict his senses No matter what efficiency is going to become the problem moving forward I canÆt avoid losing quite a bit to the force spikes even if they donÆt hit me directly So the rest of the currents need to be that much more seamless to make up for the difference

RandidlyÆs heart pounded Most of the effect was hidden by the mist but small wisps of steam began to waft up from his bare skin His toes dug furrows into the stone ground as they curled and tensed His Nether Core whirled and he incorporated thin streams of Nether into the hurricane that he created

And with the spread of his Nether Randidly discovered another pleasant surprise

Wide streams of golden energy flowed up through the ground not influenced by any restricted external manifestation of his image but by his inherent aura and the spreading influence of significance It was such a familiar lever that even RandidlyÆs Nether could conjure the manifestation of his image To his delight he found a seemingly endless well of power waiting in the bedrock of the mountain

He could only grasp it with the slightest fraction of his normal suction yet still a surging tsunami rushed up and flowed into him The raw natural resources of this place seemed to be unparalleled There was an extra something within the golden energy but since Randidly sensed it would not harm him he ignored it Force pumped through his body reinforcing his maelstrom and adding glittering motes of light that spun through the mist That power became the fuel he needed to barrel forward

Congratulations Your Skill the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil has grown to Level 450

As he gathered all these energies into his Tides a new change occurred within RandidlyÆs chest

Congratulations You have gathered a large amount of energy and potential You have absorbed an incredible amount of image remnants

Warning Multiple energies are flowing through your body in vast amounts Please see a Village Spirit to rectify the situation Different energies often conflict when they are brought into close contact In the worst case your Class will be destroyed and your body lost

Congratulations Your immense physical body is incorporating the energies without issue This great accomplishment will influence the evolution of your Skillset Yggdrasil the Universe that was First a Tree

Congratulations You have triggered the second evolution of your Skillset Immense potential achieved Image fragments incorporated Your Skill the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil has evolved into the Aureate Arteries of Yggdrasil Efficacy of absorbing and coping with energy vastly increases User will release a natural aura that is extremely conducive to channeling energy Your body naturally functions as a crossroads of power

Chapter 1812

The shift was massive and immediate Randidly hiccuped

Congratulations Your Skill Aureate Arteries of Yggdrasil has grown to Level 451

Then the pain arrived jagged and blinding

Randidly sucked in a tight breath as the structure of both his body and then by consequence the storm around him collapsed and reformed into something new Golden Roots of Yggdrasil had been one of his original Skills that he had earned through encounters with the sister Village of Donnyton It was the basis of so much of his growth and the building block of his first personal image So now that it evolved beyond the Legendary Rarity and incorporated all this potential

Are there image fragments buried in the energy below the mountain Randidly wondered as he grimaced But then he shifted again a huge portion of his base significance being uprooted and remade albeit in a superior shape Even his Nether Core whined in discomfort

He twitched worse than when he withstood the full first layer of the Hierarchy of Burden A pained growl escaped his lips The basic framework of the wind blade orb that he used as the core of his personal storm collapsed The remnant flows forced themselves into RandidlyÆs body weaving through his blood and Nether as though there was a knot waiting to be tied within his body

His flesh sizzled and steamed from the friction of the energy rubbing against itself Perhaps if he had a weaker body he would have melted directly from the sudden surge of natural energy and joined these shades as a fleshy puddle

But of course there might not be another individual in the Nexus who could rival RandidlyÆs body aside from Elhume And after several strained seconds all those inputs gushed out of him and surged through the momentarily stalled storm The fury and sharpness of the energy flows were instantly transformed The wind whipped out from him with even more vigor blasting away the nearby wind blades Even the restrictive mist was forced backward giving Randidly a few more meters of awareness

After a cough to clear out some tightness in his chest Randidly raised his head with a vicious smile Okay now IÆm beginning to see the process The Nether King had such fine control because he was the pattern

Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 430

What are you talking about The woman asked The effect wasnÆt nearly as exaggerated as when Randidly did it but the conducive energy allowed her to follow the shift his basic Skill As a result her own storm ballooned to a larger size

Randidly shook his head Nothing Just a stray thought Alright letÆs push forward

As the living breathing core to the storm Randidly stepped forward into the upper portion of the Third Step

Ozark kept his head low and his cloak wrapped tightly around him as he walked down Bray Street to his next option Due to the current instability in the Nexus it was the least crowded that Ozark had ever seen it

Left Bracer of the Wolf God Lvl 99 (Est ) A bracer forged from the finest materials by a master craftsman in a tour de force Due to the unique environment a nascent spirit with some accumulated significance has been birthed within the confines of the equipment Through accomplishments that significance can grow to hold great power Agility +150 Reaction +100 Stamina +200

Deadly Wolf Fang VI The materials for this bracer were taken from the corpse of a mutated Wolf Chimera Its fur and fangs were shaped to give the user a defensive equipment that can also lash out with a powerful attack Every four strikes with the left hand will be boosted with an additional 100 Str and Agi Additional damage will be dealt with the strike each time the effect is triggered during the battle

Armament of the Wolf God VII A defensive treasure that not only can protect the user but also all subordinates in a small area End +100 Resistance +100 User can activate the bracer once a day doubling the benefits of their own aspect and applying the base aspect to all allies within five meters

Budding Legend of the Eastern Wolf VII (Est) Within the equipment sleeps a small amount of significance that is extremely close to gaining sentience As time passed more significance gathers within the bracer Powerful exploits will increase the speed of this process When the image of the Eastern Wolf is awakened it will provide a small boost to the userÆs image That boost will increase if the image is related to the wolf

Ozark trembled and read the description of the item one more time The first thing that grabbed his attention was the (Est) next to the Level and the final aspect which he had never seen before in his three hundred years within the Nexus The System NEVER needed to estimate something Then that small mystery was blasted away by the details of the third aspect which contained a small independent image

ThatÆs Ozark gasped then just as quickly glanced back and forth to make sure no one noticed him Luckily the surly figures around the Exchange seemed to care more about how much time he was taking than the source of distraction

ThatÆs impossible An image cannot be instilled in any form but an intelligent body thatÆs the truth of the Nexus Constructs like Armaments even use Fates as their base material yet they can only achieve a bare imitation of the real thing But perhaps the special result due to the environment can subvert this limit Is such a thing truly possible

Ozark focused on the screen and made a pained expression But he decisively clicked the Buy Now option The price was rather steep but if the equipment did what the third aspect stated it was perhaps only a hundredth of its true value Immediately the equipment was transferred to an interspatial storage device with his other purchases which was dispensed from the terminal

He took one last glance at the makerÆs info before departing Samuel Hoss Expira Then Ozark left the Exchange while experiencing a queer squeeze between excitement and fear The result was a constant sweat and an intermittent tremble that drew a few sneers from the waiting individuals

On his way back to his base he reflexively checked to see if anyone was following him but he was just a minor character serving a little known Pinnacle Seeker He safely made it to the teleporter formation and paid for his fare while glancing over his shoulder Then he chided himself perhaps due to how pursued he looked someone would take it upon themselves to track his movements

Just to be safe he took several terminals to confuse any surveillance he didnÆt detect And also to settle his nerves Only then did he make it back to his personal chambers and remove the equipment with clammy hands

There is equipment that grows and equipment with intelligence Ozark whispered as he lovingly caressed the wolf furr of the bracer But both combined With significance so that an image can be instilled

Just touching the equipment made Ozark salivate He immediately felt the flickering presence of a genuine image inside of the equipment which reached out tentatively to empower him Immediately Ozark dropped the equipment and the connection was cut He hyperventilated looking down at the bracer with naked greed in his eyes

But he shook his head and shook himself No Taking it for myself if its found out I will be killed Better to pass it to Pinnacle Seeker Dreadful Boulder and earn merit And likely Dreadful Boulder wonÆt keep it for himself he will pass it on to the leader of our Pinnacle Seeker Alliance It will end up in the hands of Moonlight Blade a genuine Canine And if he grows more powerful

Ozark quickly dismissed his fantasies and stored away the bracer He walked confidently to meet with his master And in the back of his mind he wondered something else was this piece of equipment a fluke or could this newfound talent produce more such weapons

Chapter 1813

Congratulations Your Skill Chimeric Impunity has grown to Level 435

Randidly grimaced as the force spike slammed onto his right shoulder shredding flesh and crunching bone The crushing and sudden weight was enough to blast through his defenses He stumbled to the side in the aftermath with a mind clouded with pain barely cognizant of the three follow up force spikes that punched through his maelstrom of natural energy However just as quickly as Randidly fell he straightened and his body began to recover

The sound of his flesh growing over jagged bone was a noise that was becoming all too familiar

Even if the natural force could pulverize his body its deadliness was only slightly higher than the wind blades in the Third Step It wouldnÆt overwhelm him in a single strike And the force spikes followed the lightning never strikes the same place twiceÆ adage which meant he could endure it

Besides I think IÆm starting to understand the pattern Randidly coughed out some phlegm and then continued the slogging journey up the slope Around him thousands of shades continued to mimick his energy storm to varying degrees of success The surrounding area was a riotous circs of overlapping limbs and abrupt death

So long as they could keep the constant barrage of wind blades at bay they simply needed to focus on dodging force spikes But what they lacked in the ability to utilize his Skills they made up for with their ability to die and reform The next time they stepped forward they altered their path to avoid their previous end

The end result was an enormous ghastly convoy that pushed through the mist with Randidly at the center The strange gathering relied on him as the basis for their continued intelligence through iterations but they paid him back in direct visual experience with the Grand Pattern Time continued to flow weirdly his Absolute Timing recording only seconds for what felt like days of unending slog up the mountain But Randidly didnÆt mind his entire attention was consumed by the process

And he steadily grew The beginnings of exhaust curled behind his eyes but mental weariness was practically an old friend at this point

Congratulations Your Skill Aureate Arteries of Yggdrasil has grown to Level 461

Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 434

Thin golden flows continued to bleed off from the massive amount of potent energy slumbering beneath the mountain and merge into RandidlyÆs bare feet In response the maelstrom of natural force grew stronger and stronger stretching out to cover an even larger area with its potent new fuel Steam continued to waft off of him as he served as the conduit to so much force He couldnÆt be sure but Randidly felt like his storm stretched twenty meters in every direction housing more and more shades that he picked up along the way

Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 533

Influence +74

Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 435

With such a massive and complex storm of energy currents Randidly worked tirelessly to add his insights into the Grand Pattern to the actual functioning to make the process more automated Rather than grinding away at wind blades or triple wind blades and then stealing the remnant energy he began to experiment with exterior bulges of force that would snap out around the wind blades and gobble them up directly Taking the entire deadly edge and incorporating the entirety of the force helped Randidly

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Congratulations Your Skill Dodge has grown to Level 359

Randidly sidestepped following his tingling instincts The next moment another four holes were torn in his storm leaving the whole thing teetering on collapsing Luckily he could unleash a pulse of fresh energy that Randidly had absorbed from below quickly filling in most of the holes and keeping the whole operation from falling to pieces

The wind howled above him muffled by mist to the point that it sounded akin to the moan of a giant

Damnit if only I had a way to counter the force spikes directly Randidly groused watching a nearby specter being blasted to pieces by the invisible and hard to predict attacks But he could only shake his head Theoretically he had some ideas about how to make folded natural energy bombs that would detonate to counter the spikes when they struck

However he set aside those plans for two reasons First including tightly folded bundles of force within the network of energy flows inherently weakened his own storm Not to the point of being unable to persist but it was a step in a dangerous direction Even more worryingly his predictions had exact in order for the two explosions to cancel each other out If he missed an even larger hole would be ripped in his defensive array

IÆm starting to get the general pattern but there are either minute variables IÆm missing or the force spikes incorporate natural randomness Randidly looked at his left arm which ended at the elbow and smiled bitterly Which is why you

Stop looking so gloomy The spectral woman commented still staying near Randidly as the whole ground moved up the slope Her steps looked as sharp as a chefÆs knife as she shimmied diagonally to avoid force spikes What have you got to be sad about We are the ones dying over and over again not you Damn just what the hell is your body made of anyway

The rest of you well thank you for your service

RandidlyÆs heart pounded and the energy began to churn His eyes flashed open and he began to take even steps forward He couldnÆt slow now Nether spun outward and anchored the shift as he adjusted his maelstrom on the fly Wild and woven energy floes rampaged outward and then were twisted and tucked back into the pattern The wind blades cut into its flaws and made the process messy but the golden energy Randidly absorbed through the soles of his feet was enough to stabilize back at his original size

Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy of the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 451

Congratulations Your Skill Aureate Arteries of Yggdrasil has grown to Level 480

The force spikes continued to bombard the area but now RandidlyÆs storm rebounded quickly He licked his lips and lowered his shoulders But next to him the spectral hand of the woman patted him on the back

You really take things too seriously IsnÆt it fun to improve Raise your head and enjoy the view LetÆs conquer this damned summit and have a grand party

Influence +101

There was a brief hitch in RandidlyÆs step Then he followed her advice and raised his head His senses receded somewhat from the convoluted loops of natural energy he manipulated and he simply looked upward The mist in front of him churned and writhed Near constant force spikes drilled down through the restrictive barrier leaving the mist impediment looking like swiss cheese And through those holes Randidly occasionally caught a glimpse

Sunlight He said to himself And not just any sort of sunlight but a well of power that mirrored all that pure golden radiance he absorbed from the base of the mountain A hint of the deep power of this place sitting both deep in the ground and in the sky

Despite himself Randidly smiled His feet carried him forward dragging the rest of him and his cloak like storm upward The summit huh

But eventually even his feet paused

In front of Randidly the mist parted and revealed a wide stone path around the edge of the mountain He raised his head and laughed the sound echoing behind him on the slope Despite the barrage he had endured from the force spikes he had made it he had completely passed through the Third Step

He could barely move his arms and his feet were numb But he had made it

Yet just as quickly as he experienced the clean joy of triumph he also sensed something was wrong with the situation The conducive fake Nether immediately stopped at the edge of the mist The pathway that Randidly could see was another transition area untouched by the Grand Pattern He turned around and found all the specters relying on his Nether looking at him with expressions of fondness

Like the woman the longer the other shades had stayed near him the more their features had returned So an eclectic mix of humanoids beast people aliens demons and minotaurs bowed in thanks for what he had given them They stood within the coiling strands of mist just outside of the reach of the sunÆs rays

RandidlyÆs mouth is dry as something finally occurred to him You canÆt move on to the next Step

Of course not The woman remained cheerful even at the end As her features returned her hair had turned silver and luminous Or perhaps that was just the effect of being a specter Our Path is to struggle here due to our prior failures YouÆve been a big help though I canÆt ever remember actually reaching the limit of the Third Step before

You canÆt remember anything at all damnit Randidly bit his lip His chest was tight The parting was unexpected and sudden They didnÆt know each other with any sort of depth but they had worked together toward a goal Had it not been for the remnants here RandidlyÆs ascent would have been much more difficult

But he knew that the nameless woman would scold him if he let any of his sadness show So he offered them a wide smile and a half bow Thanks for your assistance IÆll take it from here

Wave at me from the summit Randidly Ghosthound The womanÆs features began to fade as though she had released her grip on the Nether foundation he provided Her face became smooth and blank even as her voice still echoed IÆll be waiting

Randidly turned away to hide the ache in his heart and walked out of the mist Immediately the bombardments stopped and his natural energy melted away The physical restrictions slowly started to grow But he didnÆt dwell on those things He simply walked forward moving until the natural curve of the path blocked off his view of the path he had taken to get here

After about ten minutes he couldnÆt help himself He stopped and turned around hoping that he had made a mistake But he found exactly what he expected he had traveled so far that he could see nothing around the bend of the mountain His convoy had vanished fading back into the realm of memories He could only look down off the cliff and see the churning mist below the lingering sign of the strange shared experience he had in the Third Step

Randidly wiped away a tear and refocused Alright this time I have twenty four hours before the shift from 30% restriction to 40% is completed In that time itÆs time to consolidate my understanding IÆm not sure whatÆs waiting in the Fourth Step but I gave my word IÆm making it to the fucking summit

Chapter 1814

The breath came in through his nose and out through his mouth finishing its existence as a powerful jet of steam over the sharp mountain cliff Despite the seething storm Randidly just left he found himself at peace The sensation of sunlight on his skin as he meditated on the grey cliff was oddly relaxing

Randidly had his activities in this longer recovery window all planned out The restriction progression was much slower than the prior iteration he had a full 24 hours to adjust before moving forward And truthfully as the physical restriction coiled around him and accumulated toward 40% he was quite uncomfortable Randidly Ghosthound embraced discomfort willingly on his journey to the summit

He reviewed his plan as he circulated air through his body and released another powerful breath After resting to rid himself of mental fatigue he would spend a short stretch operating through each of his images working them more fully into their new interior restrictions and also examining how each interacted with his strengthening image physicalizations

Hard to judge against the dangerous force spikes Randidly looked down at the armored ridges on his right arm with glittering eyes His golden veins seemed to pulse with life now that he sat in the sun But my image physicalizations are nearing a qualitative change At least on that front coming to this mountain had been very fruitful

Once he had finished with his images he had planned on moving on to reviewing the different versions of the Grand Pattern he had encountered within the Third Step Then he would take another break before finishing with a long training chunk where he strengthened the budding ties between various Skills which Randidly believed would lead to a new Amenonuhoko Skillset

However as he opened his eyes after the first portion of his rest everything else was pushed to the side by the notifications he found waiting for him They clustered his vision densely indicating how long they had been flooding toward him

Influence +117

Influence +54

Influence +90

Influence +303

Randidly blinked several times Then he twisted around feeling the rising pressure coming tightening around his Nether Core and forcing it toward an even more impressive density Sure enough stretching back off around the mountain toward the Third Step thin streams of Nether undulated in their approach to him RandidlyÆs pupils dilated as he watched the steady significance gathering back into him

He clenched his fists feeling oddly guilty at the harvest They took my Nether to gradually retain their memories For me what they borrowed was so small that I didnÆt even notice it However after regaining their self awareness and accomplishing the great feat of reaching the end of the Third Step

ItÆs like I fucking invested in them And now IÆm getting everything back with a huge amount of interest Hah Truly I owe those shades so much

Influence +271

His Influence continued to rapidly skyrocket pushing its total past 200 000 with more arriving every second Based on the previous experience with the improvements of the Nether Core he could probably earn additional Weight if he made it to 250k Of course since he had already come this far and there wasnÆt any real pressing need to improve he could try for half a million Influence before he increased his Rarity

Congratulations Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath has grown to Level 390

Congratulations Your Skill Precise Nether Array has grown to Level 433

Congratulations Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle has grown to Level 410

Originally the first boosting array had given Randidly an additional 47 Nether Weight and the second had provided 43 However with the insights Randidly incorporated into the process boosted those numbers to 61 and 70 respectively Looking at the new result Randidly couldnÆt believe the boost had been so massive he had shattered the so called limitsÆ described in the books

However he quickly grinned This just proves this is the right path ThatÆs a 4 1% increase in all of my capabilities that I didnÆt have before plus just a better understanding of Nether Of course this sort of boost means that improving further will be that much harder And I still donÆt feel like IÆm closing in on the abilities of the Nether King

Randidly stood and stretched After waiting here for so long his skin had been well warmed by the sun He bowed once more toward the Third Step before turning to the left and continuing to follow the mountain path around toward his next destination He still had about eight hours to go before the restrictions would completely settle on his body at 40% but he wanted to find his next destination so he could squeeze all the potential he could out of himself in the interim

After ten minutes of walking on the stone path Randidly started into a light jog After about a half hour of that he quit with pretenses and accelerated into a loping blur that rushed around the side of the massive mountain His expression became increasingly gloomy as the path rose and curled away from him Perhaps this is less of a rest break and more of a marathon The only reason this obnoxious place gave so much time was so you could struggle to make it to the next Step before your restriction grew too large Without the ability to boost yourself externally with images and with such a large chunk of your body restriction some people likely failed miserably in this regard

However Randidly planted his foot and accelerated forward even further pushing his Dreadful Alacrity to its limits Even missing 34 ish percent of my capability my physical Stats are higher than most

An hour of flat out sprinting finally brought Randidly to a steep slope Sneering slightly be bounded up the rocky scramble in only four steps Then at the top of the mountain he paused and looked forward

In front of Randidly was a sheer drop falling once more into the soft embrace of the seething mist Right up against the drop was a barrier keeping the consciousness and its deadly Grand Pattern out There were some clouds up above but most of the energy seemed to be contained within the suddenly harsh rays of sunlight that pressed down against his skin Standing up here he felt very exposed

Looks like this Step will be a little different than the previous ones RandidlyÆs expression grew serious as he shaded his eyes from the sun and glance out over the churning mist

From his current position he could see another portion of the mountain rising at the end of this small elevated valley filled with mist That was likely the path leading from the Fourth Step to the Fifth In between that slope and RandidlyÆs position there were thousands of stone pillars poking their tips out of the seething mist Based on the setup he guessed that it would not be a very good thing to fall off of the pillars and enter the waiting storm

The pillar tops werenÆt extremely small with plenty of space to stand comfortably on the tip but dodging force spikes and other dangerous weapons of the Grand Pattern on that restricted surface would be extremely difficult Randidly also guessed that a lot of people who had come before him and had not been able to move as quickly between the Third and Fourth Step would have their spirits broken by just witnessing this stage

If you werenÆt physically capable to begin with having 40% of your body sealed and being required to jump several meters between stone pillars while also avoiding attacks from above would be literally impossible

Well all thatÆs for later Randidly turned away For now

But he paused feeling a stir from his left arm Instantly a grin broke out across his face

Sulfur was finally evolving

Chapter 1815

SulfurÆs upper surface began to crack and rupture The heat radiating out from that inner core was hot enough that Randidly felt a searing heat against the flesh of his back His skin tingled with the buzzing potential Underneath the rising force of transformation the remnant portion of Sulfur shivered in something between agony and excitement The energy reaction grew increasingly intense warping the surrounding air even through the restrictions of the mountain