Randidly raised his hand slowly as he considered the notifications he received from finishing his Path. He had received a fair amount of Endurance and Resistance as he put PP into it, but the ultimate reward was a little underwhelming on its face. In total, Randidly had spent 1000 PP for only 10 to each of his physical Stats?

However, one phrase caught his eye…

Skills have notes of Nether, huh… how much is a note? If I want to test it, then… Molten Fang of the Pariah.

Randidly didn’t even bother with equipment and he also purposefully didn’t use his significant Willpower in order to bring down the power of the Grim Chimera as he activated the Skill. It was simply Randidly moving mechanically, following the rather prearranged images that the System provided for him in the form of the Skill. It was a simple thrusting attack aimed at the ground.

There was no real forward explosiveness in the Skill Molten Fang of the Pariah; it was only the heat that made it extraordinary. Without any sort of amazing accelerating, it was not the Skill that had the highest fatality amongst the Grim Chimera Skills. Nor the highest damage to a single target or a group. No, the Grim Chimera’s Skill Molten Fang of the Pariah didn’t need to be as flashy as some of the other Skills were. Because it was a fang. And the fang was the oldest and most reliable weapon a predator had.

With his right pointer finger glowing red, Randidly thrust the strike down toward the ground without much expectation. But immediately, he could feel the change as the Skill activated. It had been a while since Randidly had needed to use his Aether Detection to understand the working of the frame that the System created for each individual, but he could still do it with a small shift in mindset.

His senses remembered the familiar paths amongst his Aether to see to the heart of things. So he paid very close attention to the strange changes as soon as the Skill sigil activated. In the real world, the air hissed and buzzed as Randidly’s finger slid forward. As the Skill activated further, it quickly cut a jagged rip in the space in front of him. In its wake, a cloud of sulfur-smelling exhaust wafted upward that made Randidly’s eyes widen a fraction.

But the attack still slid forward and Randidly still studied the Skill. The energies within began to move more violently.

It really is notes of Nether in the Skill. And also I see why it would be so dangerous if the Nether and Aether weren’t tied together… the result of it would be a bit... The pupils in Randidly’s eyes tightened.

The Skill sigil in Randidly’s inner world activated as normal, but within that Skill sigil, running counter to its activation… there was a spiral that was formed of notes of Nether that was present in the interior of the Skill. It wasn’t exactly running counter to the Aether’s movements… more like it was running perpendicular.

The Aether portion of the Skill activated from the bottom, rotating to the right as it rose upward. And now it had a tight spiral of Nether within it activating from the bottom, rotating to the left. They didn’t impede each other, but as the two energies rotated around in different directions there were moments of friction between that energy that produced palpable power.

Had the Aether and Nether not been aligned, that friction might have destroyed both energy streams. As it was, it provided a qualitative increase in power for basically no cost to Randidly.

Randidly’s burning finger stopped a few inches from the ground, allowing the force that he had built up to this point with the Skill to glide forward within his finger supporting it. Very quickly the ground was charred and melted, creating a small crater at the spot where Randidly had been pointing his finger.

Rubbing his chin with his metal hand, Randidly studied his finger for any lingering effects from the Nether. Afterward, he scanned the air where there had previously been a distortion. Then he switched tacks and breathed slowly in until his lungs were filled with air. That breath he calmly released. His second breath was activated in tandem with Eternal Cravings of Wraith, the Skill that was the evolved form of Breath of the Spear Phantom.

When Randidly breathed, he pulled.

Once more the Aether and Nether spun opposite each other, moving toward the same goal. The power source of the Skill was kickstarted by both energies working in tandem. And it was clear that the energy of Aether was markedly more prevalent; Nether truly was only a few motes of power in the situation. Yet even so, the combination made it so that the Skill-

The surrounding area shuddered as Randidly’s Skill, empowered by the fusion of the two energies, yanked at the surrounding ambient energy. And when that was not enough, it began to siphon some away from other nearby sources. Rapidly, he devoured energy from the surrounding individuals.

Randidly was immensely pleased with the magnitude of the result until he looked up and noticed that the fabric of the tent around him was being corroded by the Nether present in his Skill. Just as Randidly was beginning to panic at what that might mean for the surrounding area, the calm image of Abiodun descended like a divine revelation, quickly squashing all the subtle damage that Randidly had done to the surrounding area. Contained in that image was also a heavy note of disapproval that had Randidly chuckling wryly.

How was he supposed to know that the effect would be so noticeable…? Experimentation now would save him a lot of trouble later.

Still, after the experiment, Randidly felt much better about the reward that he had received from the Path. More than even that reward, what he had seen was how the two energies could be used to empower each other and work together. Which, considering some of the ambiguous messages that Randidly had received from the System in the past, was somewhat confusing.

Did the Nexus have the ability to use both energies, or didn’t it…?

Still, that mechanism gave Randidly quite a few things that he could experiment with when he had free time.

That earned another wry chuckle from Randidly. When I have free time, huh… I suppose that depends how long they are going to try and keep me here… If I end up staying the full experience, I might not have anything better to do than work on Skill Levels...

Although Randidly was unwilling to too overtly draw the attention of the Nexus by abandoning his post, he also didn’t want four years to pass back on Earth. Because honestly, another Zone would probably connect to Earth during that period. And if another Zone didn’t connect during that time, it likely would never happen and Earth would be regulated to Nexus limbo or cut apart to be used as Dungeons for the next Cohort.

Either of those relegated ends for the Earth would be difficult for Randidly to fight back against currently. He needed the time they earned by proceeding through the Calamities in order to gather enough strength to protect Earth as it became a part of the Nexus.

At the same time, Randidly wasn’t sure if the Earth without him could pass all the Calamities. He had a large influence on several of the key individuals, but predicting what sort of effect that would have was difficult. Which left him hoping for more large battles against the Nether in which he could earn merits in so his sentence could be reduced.

Or to support Lady Iellaya in becoming the Supreme Commander of the frontline and rely on her to get him out relatively quickly. Which was at least a prospect that he had control over, if seemingly the more difficult of the two.

Randidly shook his head. Either method was for after he made it through the trial in front of him: the looming Nether attack and holding Ileot Swacc’s attention. Still, he currently possessed quite a bit more PP to spend to power himself up. Over 11,000, in fact. His current options weren’t as limited as it would seem.

Yet as much as Randidly wanted to spend the rest of his PP immediately, he still believed that the benefits he would receive would be much greater if he could make the improvements to Yggdrasil before he worked on that. The Yggdrasil Paths would be that much more complete if it became a full Skillset first.

“No rest for the wicked,” Randidly sighed. Just in case, he poked his head out of the tent to make sure that there were no orders waiting for him after he had activated his Nether-touched Grim Chimera Skills. Finding both Salazar and Zauna happily eating, Randidly joined them for a short amount of time.

Afterward, Randidly returned to his tent and sunk once more down to the images within his heart. The towering brown and gold bark rose above him like a towering wall. The gleaming trail of steadily carved shapes on the bark was behind him. Cracking his knuckles, Randidly proceeded back to work.

Ultimately, the more Randidly worked, the more he started to run up against an unavoidable truth: the creation of the Akashic Record here on Yggdrasil was a lifetime’s worth of work. Even though he had the benefit of almost ‘infinite’ time within his image world, Randidly would never finish carving shapes into the branches of the vast tree. Not even addressing the issue of whether he would likely run out of shapes patterns before the end, but just that there were simply too much space to fill on the surface of the vast tree.

His imagination had grown almost disturbingly powerful. Creating this much was child’s play for it.

Still, Randidly rather easily came up with an answer. And even if it wasn’t a perfect one, it was one that Randidly knew he had experience enough to work out. So, despite his earlier thoughts, Randidly did end up spending some more PP before he finished his Yggdrasil Path.

PP spent on the Living Engraving Path. Every 50 points spent earned Randidly 5 Focus and Wisdom.

Congratulations! You have finished the Living Engraving Path! Your touch hasn’t exactly become more powerful, but somehow you can see patterns in the shapes you create. Propensities and proclivities spin endlessly through your vision, as the future unfolds in unpredictable ways before you. The spark now at your fingertips is not a sure thing, but it exists where there was only nothing before.

Do not let that spark die. The Path before you grows ever brighter with its light.

Congratulations! Mana +1000! Mana Regeneration +200!

Congratulations! Your Skill Mana Engraving has evolved into Brushstroke Record (Ru)! All Skill Levels will be maintained. Increased potency of Engravings! Increased stability when creating Engravings! Levelable Engravings will now have an increased growth rate and Level cap. Effect applies to all previously created Engravings as they evolved along with the spark in your fingers!

Effect of the spark you have gained has been incorporated into the Unique Skill, “Touch of the Ghosthound”! Some of your growth in your strength will be shared with previously created items!

“Ahem,” Randidly coughed into his hand as he read the notifications. “Now this is more like it.”

Of course, Randidly couldn’t create a Levelable Engraving that would totally be the Akashic Record. But Randidly could plant seeds with his shapes that would allow the Engravings to grow naturally on their own.

With that, perhaps, his image would be even more perfect than it had been previously.

Even from the beginning of the System, Randidly had always been good at growing things.