As Randidly’s chest rose and fell, steam wafted up from his overheated body. His breath left his partially opened mouth in a whoosh, more akin to the activation of an industrial release valve on a steam engine than any sort of human noise. The whole area within Randidly’s reverse-engineered Xyrt Brigade’s reflection chamber was thick with steam, giving the place a strange sense of mysticism. The effect was somewhat hypnotizing. Outside of himself, there was only the steam and the soft light from the glowing Engravings as they were poised to activate at the slightest stray thought.

And within himself, Randidly’s three images raged. No other thoughts could exist at the moment, or else they would be weaponized and reflected back at him by the chamber around him. Randidly Ghosthound was totally focused solely on those images and keeping them only within his Soulspace. Not even his mind could brush against them before he was prepared. His emerald eyes were heavy and determined. Before he unleashed everything, he must be totally controlled.

After he released another steaming breath, Randidly raised his right hand. Two images and Skills moved together at once. “Stigma of the Stillborn Phoenix. The Chimera Weeps, But Man Mourns.”

Randidly’s right hand was instantly covered with strange patterns as the painful stigma of the fake phoenix egg he held physically descended upon his flesh. The abrupt pain forced even the experienced Randidly to twitch slightly, but he did not flinch from the task. At the same time, his Grim Chimera Skill unleashed a lightning fast barrage of blows in the surrounding area.

The light from the reflection chamber grew brighter. In response to Randidly’s thoughts and images, the chamber produced a reflection of his disturbance and threw it back at him. Both sides unleashed a dozen blows in a split second.

Congratulations! Your Skill Stigma of the Stillborn Phoenix (L) has grown to Level 274!

Congratulations! Your Skill The Chimera Weeps, But Man Mourns (L) has grown to Level 197!

Crack!

The blows smashed against one another and were equal in force; such was the effectiveness of the Xyrt Brigade’s Engraving. It could replicate this amount of power without difficulty. But almost immediately, the reflection from the sphere around him shuddered and then stopped all at once. A flaw had emerged when the chamber was placed under stress. The difference between the base materials between this imitation and the original was simply too great.

The stone sphere that Randidly had painstakingly carved with Engraving crumbled beneath his blow. Compared to Randidly’s physical body that had been slowly improved by his images over the last 70 days, even the stone that had been nurtured by dense Aether for a week simply couldn’t compare.

Still… Randidly looked down at his hand and grinned. That was two images at once. One step at a time, I’m getting there.

Pleased with himself, Randidly walked down from his peak to get some food. Perhaps he should encourage Ed to shake up the mess hall menu a bit.

*****

Sam rubbed his hands with glee. At this point, almost the entirety of Randidly’s peak was covered with those chime trees. They spread rapidly and eliminated any other foliage in the surrounding area, creating a qualitative change for those trees at the core of the mountain. The noise of their leaves became a constant companion in the valley. The size of the trees increased too, as the area they covered expanded so that the originally squat trees right next to the peak were now about ten meters tall.

With height came lengthened shadows. Toward those shadows, Sam also held quite a few expectations.

In order to test the depths of the chime trees’ abilities, Sam had some of the Riders gather monsters and herd them back toward their base. The Riders then pushed the unwitting sacrifices into the chime tree forest and left Sam to watch the result. And he was not disappointed.

Compared to the stronger humans who walked amongst the trees with their heads held high, the lurking, six-armed raccoons sensed much less of a threat from these confused monsters and struck decisively to maim and kill. Then they dragged the corpses back within the chiming branches. Although Sam couldn’t exactly see what was happening, he could clearly hear it.

A strange buzzing floated above the forest that had been spawned by the Ghosthound for several hours.

“Not just timber from the trees…” Sam muttered as he stared at the swaying forest. “The leaves almost seem metallic… perhaps a reagent after grinding them up…? And the bodies of the raccoons… heh, best to wait and just take them apart and experiment”

Sam turned away and walked back down to the workshop. Within the trees, one of the strongest raccoons looked up and glanced around warily. For a split second, it had felt an immense chill. It resolved itself to listen deeply to the great song, so it might sense what god had in store for it.

*****

Ed Dugg lifted his chin and blew his breath out through his nose. His hands were tightly clasped behind his back and quite sweaty. But he knew he needed to stand firm on this. “Madam, I am closed for business today. If you wish to have any more pastries, you will need to wait until tomorrow-”

Clarissa smiled casually but the wind in the valley rose to be a mournful moan around his bakery. Ed’s eyebrows shot upward. The speed of this wind was more than capable of picking up a small building and smashing it against the side of the nearby mountain. And from Clarissa’s expression…

She batted her eyelids at him. “Truly, your dedication to your advertised hours is very admirable. But I do believe… you owe me a favor. Now tell me Ed Dugg: are you the type of man who refuses to return a favor because of inconvenience.”

Tears formed in the corner of Ed’s eyes. “I thought the favor would be a one-time thing! But to ask for 50 muffins a day for the remainder of our stay in the Dungeon-”

“I asked you a question, Mr. Dugg.” Clarissa countered.

Ed Dugg could only slump his shoulders and allow Clarissa to walk into his bakery. Outside, thirty-two children watched the whole process from the safety of their own adobe homes and resolved themselves never to cross the Weather Witch.

*****

Gertrude cursed her own cheeks for flushing as Randidly Ghosthound led her forward up the winding path to the summit of his mountain. Jesus, girl, he’s just a normal man, just like everyone else. Even if he practically owns a city. Why can’t you behave like a normal person for just ONE minute?!?

As they entered into the area covered by the chime trees, the Ghosthound paused and glanced over his shoulder at Gertrude. “You should stay close. The wildlife around here has been getting a bit… uppity lately.”

That caused Gertrude to blink as she crossed the distance between them. She stopped short of actually touching him, but Gertrude could still feel the heat of his body. It wafted off of him like he was just as much a furnace as a human. “You… you were attacked?!”

“What? Oh, no,” The Ghosthound chuckled as the duo continued forward. His stride was deceptive; even if he took only a single step, Gertrude had to take several to keep up with him. “No, even these raccoons aren’t that stupid. But there is no reason not to take simple precautions, in these circumstances.”

Gertrude let her mind wander as they passed through the chime soundscape of the upper reaches of the mountain to reach the peak. Each one of her steps was slow and deliberate as Gertrude tried, again and again, to parse apart the message that Randidly had sent to her: ‘Ready for a surprise?’

I’m… I’m practically an employee, Gertrude scolded herself as they ascended to the peak. Why am I letting myself get whisked away by dumb fantasies- not that I’m fantasizing about it, it’s just a figure of speech-

It’s probably just… was it my birthday? How would he know my birthday, anyway?

The top area of the mountain was mostly flat, with a few rather austere buildings that the Ghosthound used when he wasn’t training. But at the moment, there was a large group of people milling about the center of the training area. And as Gertrude Collins began to take in more and more details about the crowd, her eyes widened.

“Wh…. who are all these people?”

Randidly gestured rather casually to the group, who now turned to face the rather petrified Gertrude. He had a self-satisfied smile on his face, like a child showing off a precious treasure to an adult. “Well, we keep talking about the problems, even with the housing plan, of recruiting enough teachers for the Kharon Academy to run… so I called in a few favors. These individuals are willing to work for at least five years to cover the initial slew of teachers that we will need.”

Gertrude looked out at the strange group of people. Most were clearly humanoid, but at least a hundred of them were… strange, chittering spiders that were approaching them excitedly with their forelegs raised. Beyond that, there were several shorter and slender people that reminded Gertrude of elves. They toyed with bronze contraptions while discussing quietly amongst themselves.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of the strangeness. A group of several dozen appeared to be entirely made of living stone. They smiled politely in Gertrude’s direction and gave a slight bow. Yet the largest contingent were comprised of various beast people, displaying the characteristic traits of their various animals while having humanoid arms and legs. Their leader appeared to be a long-necked giraffe woman who revealed dazzlingly white teeth when she smiled.

“How many…?” Gertrude whispered as the group converged around her.

“Almost three hundred. A good start, right?” Randidly replied.

*****

After six months of being in the Dungeon, Randidly stood along a chilly coast. Air rife with salt and moisture howled around him as he surveyed the surrounding area. Then he released a light pulse of image. When there was no reaction Randidly smiled slightly; that meant he was clear to make an actual attempt.

This coast was a coast in its most natural state. There was no sandy beaches, but only broken rock and sea shells that had been flung on the shore. Randidly stood above the rocks, but the body of water still managed to splash and spit up at him, almost three meters away. Even if the waves looked small, Randidly could sense the immense power that was contained within them. The unrelenting power of water shouldn’t be underestimated.

For the pleasant sensation, he was standing in a low tide pool. The cool water lapped against his feet, a rare cause of relaxation in this tense and busy Dungeon experience. But although it was nice, it was just a short distraction; Randidly was not here to relax.

His focus narrowed to only his inner space. The Grim Chimera, the Stillborn Phoenix, and Yggdrasil all began to rise within him. At this point, they were very familiar with each other. Even if he didn’t have outward pressure, Randidly was still capable of balancing his images. That was the accumulation of practice at work.

Unfortunately, Randidly didn’t really have the chance to practice the higher end of his capabilities on his peak. The activation still took too much time and the image reverberations were becoming too strong for some of the thirty-two children to handle, even with Ed Dugg and Helen passively shielding them. They would need to fully dedicate themselves to the task to manage it.

Besides, the work with Sam on keystones was intensifying and Gertrude wanted Randidly to be present for many of the teaching seminars she was holding with the people he had brought from his Alpha Cosmos… it was all becoming quite overwhelming. Of course, the result of all that effort was constant progress on all fronts. The pieces of Kharon Academy were slowly coming together before his very eyes.

But his training had been put on the back burner while he focused on other things. Which was a shame, because the effects were very good.

Randidly’s emerald eyes slowly opened. A wave crashed against the rocks below and sprayed saltwater high into the air. He raised his right hand. Then he brought that hand sharply down and tightened his fingers into a fist. Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality. Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart. Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil.

The wind went silent. The waves stopped, poised to smash against the shore. For a mile in every direction, the sea was under Randidly’s control. The glow of his eyes brightened as the strain increased. He had discovered that as he mixed three Skill and image activations at once, the effect became more… unpredictable and powerful. The various roles of the Skills could be substituted for each other, making them more figurative than literal.

Congratulations! Your Skill Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart (T) has grown to Level 274!

Congratulations! Your Skill Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil (T) has grown to Level 313!

So although he used gravity instead of roots, the grasp of Yggdrasil was still absolute. So much so that he even needed to use Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality in order to withstand the physical backlash. Even now, in this strained moment seizing the surrounding sea, drops of sweat rapidly began to form on his forehead.

Randidly’s eyes picked out the individual flecks of water floating in front of him, in the midst of being spat out of the wild sea toward him. He could see a surge of cold water that had been about to flood forward and wash into his tidepool. But beneath his hand, all of that was delayed.

Congratulations! Your Skill Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality (A) has grown to Level 320!

Finally, Randidly sighed and released the Skills and images. The sea in front of him practically exploded from the pent up force he used to suppress it while the larger body of water had been pressing in from the outside. It was a geyser upward to the sky, evidence of Randidly’s success.

Drained but satisfied, Randidly closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the salty water landing on his skin. Reached the limits of the physical improvement already and I can manage three images at once most of the time… soon, we will be ready to leave this Dungeon…