Randidly woke up with a stretch and a yawn. Scratching his stomach, he sat up. With only a few hours before the Challenge, he had decided to take a nap. After his time inside the shaft, he really came to appreciate the true reset that could only be accomplished by sleeping. That rest honed his edge to a vicious point that he suspected he would need.

Today was important; Randidly could feel several powerful individuals amongst the trainees these days. It seemed that the Nexus wanted to make a statement with this Challenge. Or perhaps they were just finally taking the Nether threat seriously. Either way, it meant trouble for his subordinates now.

Randidly grinned widely as he flipped himself to his feet. Wind rustled his hair. He was on top of the high residential building for the Overseers. He would definitely enjoy helping a statement be made here today. But he had a feeling that many individuals would be disappointed.

One step at a time.

That thought brought him back to the present. His lips twitching in amusement, Randidly looked at the heavy stone ground around him. The stones were bleached and pitted, as though he had dumped acid on the ground while sleeping. He rolled his eyes. I decided to sleep on the roof to protect my room from further damage… but alas, my rest is a plague wherever I go… relaxing enough to subconsciously release Weight seems to be a problem that I’ll have for the rest of my life…

Ah, if we ever settle down and live a domestic life, this might make sharing a bed with Vualla difficult…

...fuck, who am I kidding. She might actually like it…

Bemused, Randidly walked to the edge of the roof. His emerald eyes turned sharp as he carefully inspected the flowing Nether that connected him with the recruits below. Perhaps it was the timeless seeming break that he had taken due to the Visage of Obsession, but Randidly could feel the ways that his recruits had grown during their three months here. Heiffal and Helen’s vicious training had kept them on track. The three individuals that he had given his images to had taken huge strides forward in incorporating those concepts. And DiOrtho and Raymund…

Well, those two weren’t at the level of recruits any longer. They had the power to protect themselves, even on a chaotic battlefield. Currently, all the recruits had returned to their created dwellings, either meditating or harvesting the plants within their gardens. Significance swirled above them as they prepared for deployment. Seeing how seriously they took the process, Randidly felt a surge of pride.

These were the units that he trained. He knew they would accomplish great things.

Randidly turned away from the roof and walked back toward the hatch that allowed access to the roof. For now, we’ve done all that we could. Perhaps I could have been more active personally… but my own growth is the foundation of this elite squad. Now all that’s left is to give them a speech…

Influence +3!

But before Heiffal gathered the recruits for Randidly’s final sendoff speech, Randidly wanted to accomplish two things. The first was less important; he needed to spend some time thinking about the sort of figure that Randidly Ghosthound was going to be in the eyes of the recruits.

Truly, using the Visage of Obsession gave Randidly a chance to change his outlook and persona. After tossing all the ancillary personality traits away, he could be much pickier about which he would continue to hold on to as he slowly gathered everything back together. At this point, it seemed much more important for the recruits to be loyal than for them to be afraid of him. The overbearing actions of Commandant Wick warned him of the dangers if he continued to associate with that man.

He wouldn’t try to coerce the recruits all into the group planning on causing a radical shift in the Nexus. Nor would he want them to all follow him after this war, hopefully, ended. Rather, Randidly hoped to establish a firm connection. Nether, even if in extremely minute quantities, would continue to flow between them, sharing their significance.

A large part of this shift was drawing a stark line between himself and Commandant Wick, his acknowledged superior. However, Randidly understood that speaking out publicly about that relationship was sure to draw the attention and ire of an already testy Wick. Therefore, his desires could only be accomplished through a very specific and ambiguous emotional stance during his speech.

Randidly, even with his increased sensitivity toward emotions from his time in the shaft, felt a headache at the prospect of such a subtle portrayal. This was definitely not playing to his strengths, but he would try his best.

The second thing Randidly wanted to do was spend some time looking through all the Paths that he accumulated. Soon his PP Tithe would be coming, and he needed to be ready to make his decisions. Even if he received a huge amount of PP, he doubted that he’d be able to finish ALL his Paths. So Randidly opened his Path menu and perused through the list.

Friend to Humanity 0/100, Mantle of the Patron 0/500, Aether Convergence II ???, the Bell of Doom Tolls 0/600, The Ashes of Ulaat, Patron of Ash 0/1000, Order Ducis: Font of Guidance ???, Humanity’s Torch 0/500, Puppet Master 0/100, Pain Immunity I 0/250, Cleaver of the World Tree ???, Weakness of the World Tree 0/500, Guilty Conscience I 0/100, Peerage of the Baleful Court I 0/600, Hands of the Artisan 0/???, Ashes of Illym, the Above-Average Child 0/5000, The Flame the Burns Memories 0/????, Exodus, the Terror 0/1000, Genesis, the Considered 0/1000, Image Cooperation I 0/100, Body Refinement I 0/???, Chimera’s Struggle II 0/????, Spear Mastery III 0/200, Mysteries of the Fiery Emerald Waltz 0/???, Violent Heat I 0/???, Sovereign of Violence I 0/1000, Deathwish III 0/3, The Pursuit of Alchemy 0/750, Weakness of the Grim Chimera 0/500, Weakness of the Stillborn Phoenix 0/500, The Shadow Beyond the Threshold 0/???, The Chimera’s Metamorphosis 0/2000, Greater Nether Core 0/???, Primordial Might 0/????, The Passion sans Shape I 0/???, Emotional Artisan 0/500, Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm 0/1000, Architecture of Yggdrasil I 0/????, The Trace of the Ideal 0/???, Physique to Break the System 0/1500, Glimpse of the Shallah I 0/?????

Randidly perused the Paths available to him, new and old, while heading down to his apartment to make breakfast.

*****

“Don’t play dumb,” Charlotte folded her arms across her chest as she looked over at Raymund and his new wild and primal fur. Somehow, every movement hinted at barely concealed violence. “What the hell happened to you two while you were gone? Even spending time in a Dungeon isn’t enough to make you seem so different; there’s no time dilation powerful enough to turn ten days into the lifetime you two seem to have gone through.”

DiOrtho smirked, but his expression was just milder somehow. Even his sneering arrogance was muted by the changes. Between the two of them, he was the less aggressively different, but he, too, gave Charlotte a tingling sense of fear when his gaze turned serious. “Are you jealous?”

Charlotte just growled in response at the ram demon, while Raymund chuckled. Pouting slightly, Charlotte let the matter drop. The three were slowly walking their way through the misty paths of the recruit residential area. They passed by a mix of well and poorly made houses, while the familiar sound of the creaking bamboo forest buoyed them forward.

Charlotte felt a strange sense of loss as she walked out of this place.

It felt surreal to be leaving this place now, so strange that Charlotte dropped her suspicions about the changes that came over the duo. She simply focused on the feeling in her stomach as she faced the truth; she was moving on, to a warzone. The training months were over. Although she bore the Wick name, Charlotte knew that she would receive no protection from her grandfather; someone who couldn’t protect herself wasn’t worth nurturing.

An icy hand gripped her heart. And thinking that she might never see Overseer Helen again…

Yet at the same time, she wasn’t particularly afraid of fighting against the Nether Beasts that would be waiting for her. She had not wasted the time that she spent here, training underneath the Head Drill Sergeant.

She had grown. Somehow, she suspected that even she truly didn’t understand the changes she had experienced. Only with time and perspective would she grow to truly appreciate how important these three months had been for her.

Soon, they passed through the misty area and arrived at the parade grounds. Most of their fellow recruits were waiting there for them, talking to each other in hushed voices. After exchanging a glance with DiOrtho, the trio moved to the front of the group. Charlotte used hand gestures to signal her Squad, which created ripples through the crowd as the other Squads also broke off their side conversations and assembled.

She could feel how tense how they all were. How much anticipation they all had. Everyone was aware of the difficulty of the final challenge. Today was the chance to truly prove themselves. If they wanted to change their Fates as favored by replaceable descendants of powerful individuals, a prestigious career in the military was a good first step.

Five Squad Leaders stood at the front of the newly organized recruits. Raymund Ballast stood at the front with a placid expression on his face. Of the two, the changes to Vulpine were more subtle but also more impressive. His body now exuded a natural prowess that Charlotte had only ever seen on two individuals before Head Drill Sergeant Ghosthound and his lover, Lady Vualla.

Even Overseer Helen couldn’t match that manifested gift for physical violence.

Behind Raymund was DiOrtho, who now seemed to show no discontentment that the other recruit was the squad leader. Aside from Raymund, the other four Squad Leaders were Jieu Ronault, Charlotte herself, Vizzeret Clamman, and finally Kallum Xeruth. They were, in order, the six most powerful individuals amongst the recruits, based on the Overseers' final assessment.

Some recruits had been rather suspicious that Raymund and DiOrtho had managed to improve so much in their ten days missing with the Ghosthound, but their sparring demonstrations had silenced all criticism. Even if the process was a mystery, the result was overwhelmingly evident.

Standing without even a single movement, the recruits waited for their Drill Sergeant.

After five minutes, the Overseers came. They spread out like wings around the recruits, creating a gauntlet of bodies. A minute later, the Head Drill Sergeant came to walk down that pathway.

Charlotte’s eyes widened as she saw the Ghosthound for the first time since he had returned. She had heard the rumors from others who were nearby with the Ghosthound broke his training area a few days prior, but she hadn’t taken it too seriously when they had claimed that he felt completely different. But faced with the evidence…

The Head Drill Sergeant looked exactly the same. Except for his left arm, which now seemed to be made of a metal with pulsing golden veins. Yet in addition to his familiar form… the man now seemed to sear Charlotte’s senses. His presence was so palpable that looking at him for too long might leave her blind to lesser individuals. It was a phenomenon that she had never encountered before, even from Commandant Wick.

Power did not cause this. Something more intimate and mysterious was at work here.

The Ghosthound’s emerald eyes were deep and bright as he swept the recruits with his gaze. The longer he stood there, the more there seemed to be phantoms dancing underneath his skin and in his shadows. Small movements became vivid manifestations of fantastic energies. Echoes of his images remained in the air as he breathed. Charlotte couldn’t tear her eyes away, because she slowly saw the Ghosthound in front of her transforming into a tree.

Somehow, she sensed that everyone witnessed something different as they looked toward the Ghosthound. He reflected back at them the images they needed to improve.

“I’ll keep this short,” The Ghosthound’s voice was resonant; Charlotte could feel every syllable dancing across her ribs. His expression was determined, with his lips pressed into a thin line. Yet this Head Drill Sergeant was different from the one she remembered. And then he solidified that impression by grinning.

“We are bound and shaped by our connections. You, the Overseers, and myself… we are now blood, shaped and strengthened constantly by each other. No matter your loyalties outside of this place… do not forget this foundation. From this, everything is built.”

In Charlotte’s warping vision, his hair turned emerald, his veins glowing golden to match his arm. His skin darkened until it was a deep mahogany, covered in deep gouges and pits. Vitality pulsed within every word and movement. The area around him was rich and filled with life. Suddenly, Charlotte’s understanding of the Yggdrasil image grew increasingly deep. It was like a room she had been exploring by touch was illuminated by candlelight and she could now witness its true majesty.

“If you need help, ask. If you receive a request from a companion, lend aid.” The mouth of the Ghosthound stretched wider and wider. His was a mouth with an appetite to swallow the sky. “No matter what enemy you face… woe to those who take us lightly.”