Tatiana had other meetings in her schedule, so she left Randidly alone to finish his six new, handmade trays of food. He did this enthusiastically, privately glad to no longer had an audible as he attempted to sate his hunger. A yellow curry was especially compelling and Randidly devoured it with relish; each bite contained the extra emotional component that he had become so sensitive to as he improved his images.

A fraction of the perfect food that the chef wished to create was embedded in the concrete reality of the dish. Just with that insubstantial, mysterious bonus, the food was at least a hundred times better than the machine-made canteen food. Those image fragments quickly broke down, but they also provided minute amounts of nourishment to his other images.

Even if the machine-made food had the advantages of cost and convenience, he was somewhat unwilling to compromise on this.

Randidly tapped his finger against the table as he ate. His expression was thoughtful as he turned the problem over in his head. “It’s a matter of image, correct? It would be difficult for me to create an image regarding food that is powerful enough to endure for a long time… but if I experiment with Engravings and see if I can create consciousness for the brass automatons…”

After looking into Tatiana’s drawers, Randidly found an expensive-looking pen. He then took some of the napkins that had been included when he ordered out and began making some rough notations on consciousness through Engraving. With his experience with the Living Engraving and projects like Kharon’s main engine, it definitely wasn’t too difficult to sketch out the core runes that would bring life to the brass automatons.

What was more difficult was the source of the ‘soul’ for these beings. With the moss spirits, Randidly had used life energy as the guiding force behind their personality. Their core of moss meant that they clung to Kharon and continued to assist in the city’s growth and development. Randidly’s eyes sharpened and his strokes on the paper became more stark and geometric. The style of his Engraving changed as he chased after the correct feeling.

Hard-working and loyal. Diligent and detail-oriented. Stern and focused… Randidly’s eyes were blazing as he continued to follow this thread toward its conclusion.

Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 425!

Randidly grimaced at the result and tossed his current napkin to the side. He grabbed three others and drew ink Engravings across them with lightning-fast speeds, trusting in his instincts. After he finished, he regarded each iteration solemnly. Ultimately, he could only sigh; none captured the feeling that he was chasing.

A soul was not an easy thing.

Pressing his eyes closed, Randidly allowed his Grim Intuition to spread across the City Hall building. He methodically scanned building by building until he located the efficient movements of the brass automatons. He found them in the canteen and in the tighter side-passages reserved only for employees, where they cleaned and shifted supplies so the human civil servants didn’t need to waste their time on such activities.

Randidly even found the space below the building where they must rest while inactive. The claustrophobic room was certainly not hospitable, but it did give Randidly a bit more understanding of these beings.

After rubbing his fingers together, Randidly selected a new napkin. Metal was their material and metal was their soul. Shaped, perhaps, but strong and filled with the firm satisfaction of accomplishing a job. This Engraving Randidly wrote slowly, careful to shape the central rune so it was just so.

Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 426!

Even with Randidly only scribbling the rune down on a napkin, it began to glow with pregnant meaning. His senses detected tiny threads of significance that began to worm their way into the material.

Then Randidly snapped back to himself and grimaced. Designing these runes to give the automatons consciousness is all well and good… but is this sort of metallic soul going to make them any better at cooking…? And also… if I stop by for a week and sew the seeds of a machine revolution…

Tatiana would literally kill me when she found out…

Chuckling to himself, Randidly gathered up all of the napkins covered in his messy runes and crumpled them up into a ball. Then he took the whole thing and tossed it directly into the trashcan.

Sometimes a thing done casually was much more dangerous than the purposeful actions of a malcontent. Especially when the casual actor was somewhat as influential as Randidly Ghosthound.

Randidly sucked on his teeth for a few seconds then pulled out his Philosopher’s Key to continue to his next goal. But just as he was about to insert the key and teleport directly to the spiraling physical manifestation of his Nether Core, Randidly hesitated. Instead, he opened Tatiana’s window and simply leapt out into the air, landing on a nearby building. Rather than just going to view his Nether Core, Randidly wanted to proceed through the Kharon Labyrinth, to see the tests that had been arranged by those he had left behind.

As he began to hop along the nearby rooftops toward the edge of Kharon, Randidly looked up and grinned at the sky. The complex orbits of the sky islands and the emerald veins that allowed floating vehicles to travel between the various locations were somewhat mesmerizing to watch. In a way, this system was just as organic an existence as an animal. The Kharon that Randidly had made was steadily growing and evolving.

When he reached the edge of the metal-legged Kharon, he tapped a toe against the industrial building and flung himself upward. He left a small crack on the material below him, but Randidly figured it was small enough that no one would notice.

However, it occurred to Randidly as he was hurtling up toward an agriculturally focused sky island above him that his landing might be a little rough. So he raised his hands, activating Ripple of Amenonuhoko. As his hands whistled through the air, he adjusted their traveling path to steadily gather natural energy. Then when he neared his original target, he raised his hand and twisted his wrist, releasing a blast of air that decelerated him. Then he pointed his other hand downward and twisted with a bit more vigor, catapulting himself upward on a pillar of swirling air.

With a few more well-timed air blasts, Randidly landed on the edge of Kharon Academy, which was by far the largest sky island amongst the cluster of floating pieces of ground above Kharon proper.

Even in the well-kept lawn area in which Randidly landed, there were a dozen students present, either intently reading books or dozing in the shade of nearby trees. Another group was engaging in a game of ultimate frisbee which would have put pre-System athletes to shame. Wide cobbled pathways led deeper into the mass of buildings in the center of the sky-island, branching off into a maze of classrooms, restaurants, student dorms, and workshops.

Randidly looked around, but didn’t see any signs; apparently, students were supposed to just have the area memorized…?

He released a pulse of Grim Intuition to orient himself and then began walking. Despite Tatiana’s earlier warnings, no one gave Randidly a second glance as he walked past the fields and deeper into the academy in leather pants and a cotton shirt. At one point a teenage girl with red pigtails did look curiously over at him and Randidly felt his heart drop when he thought he had been recognized, but then he realized that the girl's eyes were locked onto his tail, which had at some point unwound itself to flick behind him.

Why is it that I’m feeling oddly annoyed that Tatiana was wrong about anyone recognizing me…? Randidly rolled his eyes and moved behind a forge to take a large staircase deeper into the inner ground of Kharon Academy. Soon he descended into the shadowy depths of the sky island.

There, Randidly finally found what he was looking for: after a torchlit tunnel, Randidly arrived at two massive marble doors. Above the doors, written in gold, was the word Labyrinth.

How… direct. Randidly’s couldn’t help but grin.

However, after proceeding through the rumbling doors, Randidly was stumped by the first test of the Labyrinth, written in delicate letters upon an obsidian podium. Demonstrate the strength of your Scrawl Mark.

What’s Scrawl? Randidly instantly sent a message to Tatiana.

She responded quickly. Ah, I’m surprised you encountered it so quickly. Scrawl is the temporary style of Engraving invented by the children to create flying vehicles prior to Kharon Academy’s founding. Considering that it was a subject matter pioneered by the children, it has since become a huge part of Kharon’s curriculum. Plus… there are a lot of benefits to utilizing temporary Engravings. In terms of flexibility, it is unmatched.

Randidly scratched his chin as he wandered back out of the labyrinth and was greeted by the familiar sound of hammering from a nearby forge. Since he was interested in this new method of Engraving anyway, he walked back toward the areas were students were milling around. When he returned, Randidly’s gaze brightened immediately; a young man of around nine was crouching above a wooden board and quickly drawing out an Engraving on the wood that Randidly didn’t recognize.

Randidly walked over and crouched next to the boy. “Are you good at Scrawl?”

“Very good.” The boy grunted, continuing to work. Randidly carefully examined the lines of the boy’s creation. The finer details were a mystery to Randidly, but he could sense the clean flow of energy between the different shapes that he drew.

Randidly memorized the symbols and sent a message to Neveah, asking for her insight on the Nether issue, whether she knew Scrawl, and whether she wanted to come to Kharon in the next few days to meet him for dinner.

Meanwhile, the kid finished his Scrawl and the runes flashed to life. But after few seconds of trembling, the wooden board shattered to pieces. The kid clicked his tongue as though this was expected and then turned to regard Randidly suspiciously. The kid had messy hair and pushed his oversized glasses up his face. “I assume you want to learn Scrawl? How much are you willing to pay? You don’t seem like you've got much money on you.”

Randidly twisted his lips. “Well, not on me-”

The kid, very officious, raised his hand to silence Randidly. “You are in luck. I need a bodyguard for a particular event coming up. An auction. So flex your bicep for me and let me see how strong you are.”

Randidly blinked and stared at the kid for several seconds. Somewhat confused, Randidly extended his arm and made a muscle for the kid. The kid reached over and poked Randidly’s flexed bicep, nodding with satisfaction when he felt how solid Randidly’s arms were.

Randidly’s mouth twitched. Kid, if I flex like this while squeezing you, you’d pop like a balloon…

“You are a bit old, but it makes you seem tough,” The kid finally announced. Then he nodded again. “Alright, I’ll teach you Scrawl in exchange for protection tomorrow night. Just follow me until then and prevent anyone from interfering with my business, alright?”

Randidly was torn between agreeing and being unwilling to spend two days following this kid. But truly, he was here to take a break. And he couldn’t deny that the spirit of Kharon was particularly strong around this kid… “So you’re going to the Kharon Academy Auction?”

The kid looked at Randidly and snorted while adjusting his large glasses. “That amateur fest? No, of course not. The auction I’ll be going to is a prestigious, invite-only affair. And it’s already been happening for five years: the Kharon Academy Under-Auction.”

A glimmer appeared in Randidly’s eyes. “...and let me guess, completely hosted by ch- by students of the Academy.”

The kid grinned and nodded.