No… I can’t be party to this…

Captain Rebecca Loft had just clenched her fists and resolved herself to finally ignore the missive from her superiors; she was going to pull back her squad. That was the moment when the monster descended from Shadowthorn Peak.

At first, it was just a dark blur that crashed into the last low ridge between her and the forces of the Republic. And then the impacted ground buckled and produced a huge wave of dust and debris that blasted outward. Rebecca crouched down to maintain her balance as the ridge beneath her groaned ominously. But luckily it seemed that the ground wouldn’t collapse beneath her. So Rebecca looked up and squinted toward the source of the disturbance.

There were seven seconds of silence as the dust slowly drifted to the ground. The darkness at the epicenter seemed to darken every moment. Then the screams started.

Thick blue veins pulsed visibly on the huge monster’s pale chest. It seemed to be animated by a strange glowing light that burned in the flesh of its torso. It’s eyes were dark, the dark green of peat mud and shadows across still water. The dark green of fungus growing on a corpse. Licking its lips, the enormous monster seemed to pause to stare directly at Rebecca. A thick wave of miasma billowed outward as it straightened and towered over the surroundings, abruptly lowering the temperature of the surrounding area.

For a split second, Rebecca was squeezed by fear. Then she managed to force out a shrill, “R-retreat!”

But simultaneously to Rebecca’s yell, one of the operators of the furnace artillery appeared to be so panicked by this monster that he activated his engine of war; a burning orb of scrap metal and serrated edges arced forward.

Is this thing a secret weapon of the Republic- no, they are frozen too, Rebecca’s eyes flicked to the arrayed forces of the Republic and then to the flaming projectile heading toward the monster. Then… perhaps this thing is the source of the miasma…? The Paragons that now provide us benefits did say there were many secrets hidden in this world…

Although her soldiers hadn’t heard her order, Rebecca didn’t yet repeat it. She was just like all the others at this moment; everyone silently watched as the orb shot toward the monster. Oblivious to the oncoming attack, the monster raised its head and howled. More and more miasma was pouring out to drench the surrounding area.

It would have been one thing if this ten-story monster had blocked the projectile or smashed it to pieces. But it was an altogether more sinister horror to witness the monster completely ignore the projectile as it streaked forward. The flaming orb that had enough power to destroy a stone wall two meters thick impacted the monster’s side without much fanfare. The dense metal ball crumpled and fell to the ground without leaving a mark on the monster’s skin.

The howling stopped. The huge monster with its terribly dark eyes lowered its head and turned. Its raptor-like legs shook the ground as it slowly pivoted and looked out toward the forces of the Armgrast Empire. It’s eyes began to glow as it raised the sharp bone protrusion that jutted out from its right arm.

With much more vehemence this time, Rebecca bellow, “RETREAT!”

Unwilling to let another chance to flee pass, the forces of the Armgrast Empire twisted around and dashed away without any semblance of discipline. These were all elites that were around Level 50, but those Levels seemed small things before this huge monster riding a tidal wave of miasma.

Moving more quickly than such a large monster had any right to, the thing swiped its bone protrusion forward, bisecting the engine of war that had launched the attack. But that bone spear also dragged along the ground to follow through on its swipe and ripped open a looming fissure at the base of the ridge. Within a second, that opening sprayed upward even more miasma. Visibility plummeted.

As the ridge began to collapse beneath her, Captain Rebecca Loft pumped both arms and sprinted like her life depended on it.

*****

After putting the fear of ‘god’ in both of the assembled armies and making them retreat, Randidly returned to his human form and produced his Philosopher’s Key. Unsure how long the lesson of the Grim Chimera would stick, he flooded the area with Miasma and then used the key to ‘lock’ the passage between the two large countries.

Because the mountain range was not quite a threshold in the traditional sense, the lock was relatively weak. But without a specialized squad of soldiers with very high resistance to Nether, Randidly doubted that the two countries would chance the passage for the next few months. Hopefully giving time for the six individuals to straighten out the situation.

Pausing after he finished, Randidly looked at the Philosopher’s Key with a thoughtful expression on his face. Truly, as a Philosopher, my role sometimes causes me to be misunderstood. I might open and close doors, but very rarely will the results of my work be associated with my name. In some ways, it’s as though everyone else will miss the owner and only see the key…

After saying the lofty statement about himself, Randidly looked intently at the Philosopher’s Key. There was no notification. Randidly could only sigh and shake his head. If reaching Level 100 in a Fate was that easy, it would honestly be strange. But still, he supposed it was worth a shot.

Randidly stayed in the area a little longer to make sure both armies retreated and was relieved to see that aside from a few sentries left to monitor the mountain range, both completely withdrew. Which meant that Randidly could finally go to accomplish the two things he had actually intended to do when he entered into his Soulskill.

The first was to pay a visit to Wendy. But Randidly was rather stunned to be stonewalled by sharp-looking secretary with the name tag ‘Bjorn” when Randidly arrived at Wendy’s company.

“Ah, Mr. Ghosthound, I was told you would be arriving today.” Bjorn adjusted his glasses. “Unfortunately, our CEO is unable to see you. She had a sudden impulse to go on vacation this morning and is currently enjoying the southern sun along the coast.”

Randidly frowned. “She knew I was coming?”

Bjorn tapped a stack of papers against his desk to align the materials and nodded. “After almost a year of trial and error, the CEO received a Path that granted her a Skill called ‘Foretold Arrivals’. It has done wonders for her stress because she no longer needs to fret that you could turn up at any moment.”

Then Bjorn offered Randidly the stack of papers. “But she instructed me to provide these to you. They should be what you need.”

You developed a Skill just to avoid seeing me? Randidly thought, rather impressed by Wendy’s ambition. Then he took the stack of papers and scanned quickly through it. Within the package, there was a letter, an improved design for Randidly’s arm, a schematic on a streamlined version of Kharon’s engine that could be used to power smaller devices, and some thoughts on potential upgrades to Kharon. After confirming there was an upgrade for his arm, Randidly turned to the letter from Wendy.

Dear Mr. Ghosthound,

Attached are several contingencies I came up with that should address your immediate needs. No need to thank me. No need to seek me out to thank me. I assure you that the knowledge you are living well is reward enough for me.

In addition, due to your obvious fixation on your moving city, I have included some upgrades that should help the city function. Feel free to provide any relevant data on Kharon that you possess; simply provide it to Bjorn. I’ll incorporate into any future thought experiments I have.

Hope you are well,

Wendy

Feel free to provide any data on Kharon, huh… Randidly’s mouth twitched. You need to be more honest with yourself, Wendy…

Randidly turned to Bjorn. “Alright, I understand. Thank you very much. Oh, but inform Wendy that there have been some complications with Kharon due to a sudden population increase. I’ll let her know the details after I have a chance to gather them.”

Bjorn nodded sagely and watched Randidly go as he departed the company headquarters. After walking out the front door, Randidly twisted up and looked up toward the window of Wendy’s office. As he expected, a face quickly disappeared behind the blinds as Randidly looked up. Chuckling, Randidly let it go and proceeded toward some of the wildlands of the Alpha Cosmos.

He had no doubt that his empty words about Kharon would capture Wendy’s attention. Although she liked to pretend like she wasn’t invested, Randidly knew better than anyone else that the only person who cared as much about Kharon as he did was Wendy. The whole project would have been impossible without her input.

Still, Randidly wouldn’t force the issue. Instead, he began to search for high-Level monsters to harvest their physical bodies. After all, with his improved images, Randidly intended to remake a large amount of metal to fuel his arm. And although there were still Nether Beasts wandering around on the frontlines, they weren’t really suitable.

Although the average Level in the Alpha Cosmos was still below Level 60, Randidly was able to find a few monsters in the high seventies by exploring some of the deserted places of the Alpha Cosmos. And to his surprise, he even gathered enough experience to Level up in the process.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 55! +8 Stats distributed between Vitality, Perception, Resist, Intelligence, and Control, +35 Free Stats! +1 Stat to a Mental Stat. +1 to a Physical Defense Stat. +1 to a Mental Support Stat. +2 Control. +36 Health, +45 Mana, +40 Stamina, +6.5 to all Regenerations! +1 to Health and Stamina Regeneration!

Due to Guidance of the Wraith Adder, +4 Agility and +2 Bonus Stats!

Due to your Fate the Philosopher’s Key, +3 Intelligence, Wisdom, and Focus.

Congratulations! You have learned the Skill Profound Influence (A) Lvl 1!

Profound Influence (A): As your mastery of images has grown, you now exude an aura of clarity and focus that can influence those that follow you. Allies who use images near you will find the process slightly less mentally draining. In extremely rare cases, allies might surpass their own limits and manifest images beyond their typical abilities. Warning! Such a result will leave them completely spent. Effect of the passive boost increases with Skill Level. Chance for a qualitative increase in the quality of an Ally’s image increases with Skill Level. Area of effect increases with Skill Level.