Releasing a breath, Randidly Ghosthound stepped through the portal and finally returned to Earth. With his sharpened senses, the changes to the air were immediate; suddenly the pervasive tang of System Aether was greatly reduced. After being kidnapped by the System almost ten months ago, the return was a welcome one. Both because of where he currently was in his own training and also how near to the first Calamity Earth now was.

So he stepped forward and grinned at the unfamiliar terrain with raw pleasure. If he was being honest with himself, his homecoming was an impressive display.

The trio stepped out of the portal onto a lush hill covered with heavy greenery. Ferns and vine-wrapped trees obscured the slope down from the ridge to the surrounding ground. The air was still and humid, the blissful sort of night that felt like warm bath water on his skin.

But it was the sky that held Randidly’s attention. Thousands of bright spots of emerald light spiraled downward to form a passage that led forward. The moss spirits of Kharon seeming to have grown quite lively in his absence. Which was a good thing, the fact that the spirits proliferated meant that the Engraving was working as he had intended.

He simply didn’t realize how many moss spirits would spawn. More and more seemed to be cascading down to pool around the low ridge on which Randidly’s portal stood every second.

Randidly’s gaze shifted away from the dazzling emerald waterfall to the looming silhouette of Kharon. The moving city stood at the end of the tunnel of floating emerald motes of life like a savage beast at rest, completely inert. Only the smaller legs were engaged, meaning that the heavy stone city sat only a meter or so above the tops of the trees, likely brushing against the foliage as it had passed.

I guess this is my home, Randidly closed his eyes, listening to the muttered shock from Salazar as the lizard man spun on his heel and took in the entirety of the surroundings. Undoubtedly there would be a story based on this sight being told sometime in the future, but Randidly didn’t mind that so much. It was enough just to be back.

Randidly’s Grim Intuition slowly spread outward, past the blinding moss spirits to the surrounding area. His perception sunk into the soak and into the timbers of the surrounding trees. He noted the normal animals, the weaker monsters, and finally Kharon. He felt very directly the hastily housed group of people that had been added to Kharon; all told, the population of the moving city had grown to almost thirty-five thousand. Which meant that they would need to start getting creative with the layout of the city if it was to keep growing…

It was made to house this many, but not this quickly.

Randidly shook his head. Although he had certainly become more powerful since his last visit, that didn’t mean he could just solve every problem that plague Kharon; some things required specialists and preparation. And Randidly had no doubt that Tatiana was proactively drawing up plans to convert some of the living quarters so they could house more people.

After forcing himself to relax, Randidly started walking forward. He could sense, even from this distance, that Kharon was lowering itself hastily to the ground and the people in the city had realized that something had changed. And as he reached out with his images and brushed against Kharon… there was a strange sort of resonance. Because he touched these places, they remembered his touch. His image pulses with the familiarity.

Some would call it karma, but it bound Randidly to Kharon extremely tightly. This truly was the home that he had chosen for himself.

Hell, Randidly could now also sense a few other locations-

But as Randidly spread his images out farther and farther to follow the call of the resonance, he frowned. As his images manifested on Earth, he felt them catching very lightly on a weave of Aether. Under his touch, the weave shifted.

Immediately, Randidly was weary due to the unfamiliar sensation. He pulled back his images and the resonance dimmed to a low hum. Then he squinted and reached out to examine the weave of Aether even as it attempted to hide itself back amongst the complicated framework the System had put around Earth. Maybe before I went to the frontlines you could have avoided me, but definitely not after.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to level 183!

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Surgeon (Ru) has grown to Level 70!

Despite its best efforts, Randidly seized that weave of Aether and thoroughly studied it. Then he released it, chuckling as he did so. This is the lock on the images of Champions and Nemesai… so it’s triggered to release as the world’s images get stronger…? I suppose that makes sense. It feels like I could shred it almost instantly to pieces, but…

Randidly knew that he technically cheated to earn his image’s strength, but it was interesting to note that the System considered his current stage very powerful. It made him relatively confident in his chances against the images of the people in the Champion and Nemesai roles. In terms of images, all his base knowledge had come from Tellus. And on Shal’s home planet they divided things into four groups: Artisan, Adept, Pontiff, and Master.

Artisan meant that others would see your image when you activated the Skill. Adept meant you could create an image without relying on the Skill. Pontiff meant your image had enough power to physically affect the world without relying on a physical body. And finally Master meant that your image could persist independently of your body.

Whereas most people had to rely on the slow, awkward empowerment of their image with System Aether and constant mental refinement, Randidly’s Aether was perfectly adjusted to heal and empower his images. The process was extremely natural. So after his image had been forcefully extracted from his body while he was still at the Pontiff tier, on the frontlines Randidly had leaned heavily on his Aether connection to rapidly build up his image to the point that it could be considered at the Master tier.

And perhaps because he had relied on Aether fueled growth rather than accumulation over time, Randidly had still been a little nervous returning to Earth about how much power he would really possess. Almost immediately, this subtle acknowledgment by the System removed that nervousness; he had come home powerful.

Randidly’s mouth twisted as he considered the limiter on the images of Nexus citizens descending from higher Cohorts. Still somewhat tempting to destroy the limit just to encourage the Nemesai to expose themselves… but if I act too hastily, innocent people will probably die.

Also, I’ll have to do some research into that strange resonance I feel from Kharon and Donnyton from my images. Even admitting the fact that although I possess something close to a Master tier image, and three of them at that, those tiers from Tellus only capture an image’s relationship to the physical world. Meanwhile, this weird resonance that I’ve felt with the places on Earth likely indicates that my images have grown strong in another way… Which means that the Nemesai might have that same strength. No need to rush into that decision.

“Is s-s-something w-wrong?” Salazar asked nervously, reminding Randidly that they were still simply standing on the lush ridge. The snakeman’s tongue flicked out of his mouth and tasted the air, as though he was looking for the threat that had forced Randidly to stop.

Randidly rolled his shoulders and shook his head. Very purposefully, Randidly reached out and pulled back his images so they wouldn’t affect the limit on Earth for the time being. “It’s nothing. Just feeling a bit nostalgic to come back after so long away. Come on, let’s go to Kharon.”

Although a lot had changed with the location of Kharon, the secret entrances into the city along the rocky bottom were still the same. A nervous-looking young man that Randidly didn’t recognize gave him a hastily salute as he opened the door and walked into the interior of the moving city. With a nod, Randidly continued past the man and proceeded confidently into the maze of passageways that lined the belly of the grand machine that he and Wendy had built.

“Ah, M-mister Ghosthound…” Salazar said nervously as he glanced over his shoulder at the hallway behind them.

Randidly twisted and looked behind them. A veritable wave of moss spirits was bouncing off the walls and ceiling, ricocheting after the trio in a cascade of color and light. And it seemed like the moss spirits were really enjoying themselves. Randidly turned back forward while keeping his face serious. “Don’t worry about them. I’m sure they are friendly.”

Eventually, with their trailing parade of moss spirits, Randidly brought his two subordinates to the heart of Kharon. So Randidly could alleviate the other anxiety he felt after returning. They walked out onto the thin catwalk in the vast central chamber, striding directly toward the tall pillar of an engine that powered everything in Kharon. Although Randidly definitely wanted to find out how things were on Earth, he came here first.

He carefully walked up to the engine and examined every inch of the dense network of Engravings that covered the surrounding area. With the added benefit of hindsight, Randidly saw quite a few places that could be improved upon. Especially after seeing some of the effortless Engravings that Vualla could create…

That made Randidly shake his head and pull his hand back from the central pillar. It was enough that the engine and engraving were functioning as designed. His machine was still fine, and the burdened on his heart lightened immensely. So then Randidly proceeded directly upward again through the passages to the surface of Kharon, plunging directly into the warm flood of moss spirits as Salazar trailed nervously after him. Zauna seemed bemused but was quite willing to follow him amongst the swirl of harmless sprites as they proceeded forward.

When he arrived at the base of city hall, there was a vaguely familiar man waiting for him; Randidly didn’t remember his name, but he was one of Tatiana’s subordinates. The man bowed and opened the door, allowing the trio to proceed up to the top floor of Kharon’s city hall.

There, Randidly found a full room. Tatiana, Naffur, Heiffal, Vye, and the familiar faces of Kharon’s best forger lined the walls. In addition, there were four aides passing out reports to the individuals who stood at attention as Randidly entered the room.

Randidly’s eyes slid across them all. He was rather amused to see that Heiffal politely took the report and then set it on the ground, clearly uninterested in seeing its content. There was also a nervous-looking Hispanic man that Randidly hadn’t seen before. And based on what Randidly’s Grim Intuition could tell him, this was a representative of the huge new population that had moved into Kharon.

Everyone remained quiet as Randidly carefully surveyed them. Almost awkwardly so, as though they were waiting for him to give a speech. Their eyes were nervous too as they looked at him, taking in his armor and his mechanical arm.

Despite Randidly’s best efforts, Randidly understood that he couldn't completely isolate his images; that sort of control really would take time and experience to develop. Some would leak out despite his best efforts. Perhaps even more dangerous was the presence of Nether in every aspect of his body. That was easier to keep from leaking, but Nether’s tang was thoroughly woven in Randidly now.

Which was also likely the source of the fear he saw in some of the familiar faces.

But this was his home. This was his kingdom. Even if some people feared him, that was simply the Path he took. Randidly didn’t regret it.

Instead of allowing the awkward silence to continue, Randidly coughed lightly and looked to Tatiana. “How are things?”