After seeming to get the measure of Randidly through their brief confrontation, the Commandant’s attitude eased immensely. He then moved directly to the other purposes for his visit. First, he asked whether Randidly would require additional Aether to fuel his Engravings to assist in the training of the recruits. Clearly, he was now willing to provide more legitimate assistance than just his reputation. Although there wasn’t much spare, as Head Drill Sergeant, he was entitled to some amount of energy allotment.

Without thinking, Randidly denied him; there was no point in polluting his area with sub-standard System Aether. Then the Commandant chuckled darkly. “Heh, so the crime that caused you to be conscripted is accurate. You are a Heretic. There are no problems with your status, just know that I will thoroughly annihilate you if it ever comes to light you stole Aether from your recruits. Because those recruits are also my recruits.”

From the way Commandant Wick glanced at him while he said that, the threat at the end was just lip service. Randidly couldn’t even sense the slightest stirrings of the aggressive Commandant’s emotions as he said it. This meant that what was more important was whether such an act was discovered than whether it occurred. That austere suppression apparatus that controlled Wick’s madness apparently didn’t rid him of his cruelty.

Results will matter first, Randidly thought with a chill.

The second reason for the Commandant’s visit was more practical; Commandant Wick wanted to ask whether Randidly could arrange the elite soldiers be arranged in ten-person Squads prior to their deployment. After examining the sporadic reports from the Fifth Cohort, Military High Command had some idea of the Nether numbers. Essentially, things weren’t looking good for the recovery efforts.

Twenty capable squads was the least Military High Command thought it needed to stabilize the situation.

The goal would be to have each ten-person squad capable of surviving the assault of three Nether Gatekeepers for a significant portion of time and of killing a lone Nether Gatekeeper, given the chance. Randidly could, of course, guarantee that he could create five such squads without thinking; the top five recruits might be able to manage that themselves, at the end of their training. But to have all twenty of the squads reach that level…

The Commandant stared at Randidly with mild eyes while he considered that task. Somehow, the Commandant when he was acting mundane was just as unnerving as when he displayed his erratic madness. Eventually, Randidly forced himself to nod. “It should be possible. But I have to ask… Which task is more important? Killing one, or surviving three?”

“Surviving against three Nether Gatekeepers.” The Commandant rumbled.

Which meant that he would need to have a talk with Helen and begin pushing the training in that direction. But it also meant that the situation in the Fifth Cohort was even worse than Randidly had heard from Lady Iellaya.

The last topic that Commandant Wick brought up was the one that took Randidly by surprise and was also the most distasteful to him. In effect, Commandant Wick told Randidly in no uncertain terms that if the situation in the Fifth Cohort dragged on for longer than planned, he would represent Commandant Wick at various political functions. This would be considered ‘payment’ for the favor of getting Randidly the job.

Although from what I hear, that wasn’t exactly what happened, Randidly’s face twitched.

Despite his general skepticism toward Wick’s claims of being owed a debt, he didn’t try and refuse the pronouncement. From Commandant Wick’s perspective, Randidly was likely an ambitious young man with loose associations with Lady Iellaya due to coming up to his Commandship underneath her. Now he was in the Nexus, looking for means to advance.

Letting Randidly serve as a political stand in would serve Wick two purposes. The first would be to bind Randidly more tightly to him in the public perception. Even if Randidly wanted to join some other faction in the future, other individuals would be suspicious of him for bearing Commandant Wick’s touch so strongly.

In addition, it would, in theory at least, give Randidly a taste of what living under the umbrella of military high command would mean. With all the honor and benefits that came with it. Meanwhile, there was no reason for Commandant Wick to suspect that Randidly was part of a secret cabal to overthrow the Nexus and the young man’s acceptance hinged more on access to the upper levels of the Nexus.

Edraine would likely be very unamused if Randidly didn’t make use of such an opportunity.

The only downside… was the fact that Randidly would need to attend fancy Nexus dinner parties. Or whatever the equivalent was here. Which left Randidly feeling helpless and frustrated.

But after that, Commandant Wick left for other business. Almost immediately, Randidly couldn’t help but such in a deep breath; the air tasted so clean and pure, it was like he was drinking from a melt-water stream coming down from the mountains. Randidly was shocked by how much he relished the lack of pressure after the bearman left. While idly wondering whether he would be able to reproduce such an oppressive aura with an Engraving to increase his training difficulty, Randidly acknowledged that most of his eagerness to fight someone had been squeezed out of him by that interaction.

Being near Commandant Wick was a reminder that the difference was still too vast. He would need to improve before he could stand up against the truly powerful.

So Randidly began making preparations to head into an extended training session. Even if he stalled out in his investigations of the Grim Chimera and the principles of Nether, he could still push his raw Skill Levels upward. Each additional Level was a slight increase in effectiveness. Eventually, those slight increases would lead to a qualitative change.

He had come this far through gradual and consistent training. He wasn’t going to deviate now.

Randidly contacted Helen and Heiffal to give them the goal of splitting the various recruits up into squads and have them be able to survive against three Nether Gatekeeper. Then he contacted Edraine and talked a bit about what Commandant Wick had told Randidly. That conversation turned out to be rather illuminating because she gave Randidly some information on the broader situation in the Nexus.

Randidly had seen basically none of the proper Nexus, due to how quickly things had moved when he arrived and his commitment to training, but the situation in the Fifth Cohort was having some unintended consequences. Beyond the ring of teleporters that Randidly had initially arrived on, there were “Outer Realms” floating in space, which basically amounted to giant, middle-class residential complexes. And individuals with homeworlds in the Fifth Cohort formed a large percentage of the population in some of these mini-cities.

As the situation in the Fifth Cohort worsened, alarm quickly spread.

Under normal circumstances, the discontent might have been vocal but ultimately without teeth, but widespread Aether rationing since the creation of the Seventh Cohort, combined with the fact the Aether yield from this Cohort was unable to keep up with the Nexus expenditures, meant that there was already quite a few individuals who resented the Nexus. They were all too happy to arrange destabilizing demonstrations questioning the decisions of Nexus leadership.

The leaders of these demonstrations urged that the Nexus accelerate its timeline for armed intervention against the Nether threat. Otherwise, two and a half months from now, the entire Fifth Cohort might be obliterated.

After she relayed that news, Randidly was silent for almost a minute before he sent a message back. Reflecting on his meeting with Commandant Wick, he recalled worry and grim determination in the military man. Perhaps also a little bit of pride. But there had been little genuine fear or empathy in his expressions. Just so we are clear… do we know if the Fifth Cohort is a net positive for the Nexus in terms of Aether…?

Edraine replied almost immediately. Of course, it is currently a drain on the resources of the Nexus.

Randidly pressed his eyes shut. At that moment, he was back on Tellus as the hordes of the Second Calamity invaded. He stood on the Hallat and constructed a vast Engraving formation that allowed him to slaughter the soulless drones. And then afterward, he had taken a shovel and dug graves.

By the time he had attained the power to make a difference, so many had already died. Even now, that feeling of emptiness haunted him.

Very often in life, Randidly was so busy with tasks he needed to accomplish that he never stopped and reflected on how he felt. His heart silently bore the wear and tear of living without rest as he threw himself into one battle after another. He was unfeeling only because he simply forced himself to process everything at light speed, not worrying about how it was affecting him.

But this situation in the Nexus… this was not what he wanted. This was exactly what he didn’t want. To become a part of the Nexus leadership that might make the cruel calculation to delay action for a broader benefit while sacrificing lives in the process. Randidly raised his right hand and pressed it against his chest. His heart ached.

Yggdrasil hated the loss of life. The Grim Chimera solemnly bowed his head, acknowledging the struggles of other creatures to survive in this brutal world. The Stillborn Phoenix continued its heavy breathing. It may no longer howl in the same way, but its eternal obsession with accomplishing the impossible remained steadfast.

This cruel world must be changed.

Gradually, Randidly’s eyelids fluttered and then slowly opened. His eyes, at that moment, were luminous and green. His three images swirled together, driven by what he didn’t want… and Randidly could faintly feel the edge of what he did want. With that as the base, utilizing three images at once…

For now, Randidly didn’t grasp at that emotion to affirm his theory of image cooperation. He simply stood and allowed himself to experience those feelings. He needed power. Utilizing three images at once was a method to achieve great results, but the only way he would continue to improve was to work on his images. It wasn’t even about allowing the Grim Chimera to evolve; what he needed to do was refine the potency with which he believed in those images, altogether.

His Conviction of the Smiling Horror was overwhelmingly powerful, one of the highest of his Skill Levels. But it still wasn’t enough. He could push it higher.

Randidly drummed his fingers on his legs. For now, the plan would be to spend the next three weeks, until the next skirmish, refining his own images. During that time, he would simply allow what was occurring with the Nether flows in the training areas to continue unimpeded. When he came out of his seclusion, he could study the results.

Perhaps he could even use the principles he observed to create a larger version of the Nether system that he could spread across his Alpha Cosmos. And an array on that scale… would likely form a firm foundation for a Nether Class.

Randidly flexed his fingers and looked down at the Engraving in front of him. Time to see how effective these training pods really are…