Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Hierarchy of Burden has grown to Level 39!

Congratulations! Your Skill Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 478!

Significance flowed steadily downward and the Stillborn Phoenix heaved out a long blast of refined emotions. Now that he understood how important the right sort of emotional intensity was, Randidly studied the release much more closely. Still, emotions seemed determined to remain inscrutable to him; every time he peered too closely, he could feel them writhe and curl in on themselves to avoid him.

Randidly clicked his tongue. After three months of training with short sparring matches with Claudette, he sensed it was time to return to the Nexus. He leaned back and released a breath as he eased back on his Fatepiece. His insides felt like they were literally on fire; the upper tiers of the Fatepiece left his organs seared and miserable. However, early in their stay in the shaft he had noticed the very obvious applications of Yggdrasil in absorbing light radiations.

He had relied on that to forcefully advanced the Fatepiece, even when he struggled to manage both the electromagnetic discharge and the light. Randidly now chewed on his lip as he looked down at his hand, one flesh one Sulfur settled into a semi-permanent position across his left side. He knew that he would need to allow DiOrtho to acclimate more with the electromagnetic radiation before he proceeded any further, plant image or no.

His Fatepiece replicated the radiation generated by the birth of a new dimension. Even with the Alpha Cosmos, Randidly couldn’t handle all that alone.

We need to get back anyway. Randidly glanced over at Claudette, who practiced gathering a blizzard around her body and directing the winds. We didn’t head as deeply as I usually do, so several days have passed in the Nexus. Even if the current Claudette-

Randidly’s expression darkened as his mind turned to Commandant Wick. Even if neither of us is ready to face the foes in front of us, we don’t need to be in any hurry. The chaos in the Nexus will keep them from focusing too much on small fries like us. And also, we need to understand what’s going on in the Nexus. Because I doubt that it’s going to magically get better, now that things are beginning to come to pieces.

As he straightened out his body and shook himself, he opened up his Status screen.

Randidly Ghosthound

Class: Lord of the Baleful Wood (x5)

Level: 63 (72%)

Health(/R per hour): 13615/13615 (9627)

Mana(/R per hour): 13062/13062 (3313)

Stam(/R per min): 9496/9496 (3317)

Uncommon Metabolism (Un): 1337

End: 1102

Primordial Nether Juju (M): 1487

Dreadful Alacrity (A): 1672

Grim Intuition (L): 1471

Reaction: 1452

Resistance: 1256

Willpower: 2074

Intelligence: 1380

Wisdom: 1182

Fidelity of the Ascendent Moirae (P): 2394

Focus: 1367

Nether Sphere

Fang of the Primeval Betrayal (Ru)

Weight: 591 (+57) (+49)

Connections: 1,261,697,311

Scope: 12,609

Influence: 105,320/???

Skills (Soul Skill): Figure of the Alpha Cosmos Lvl 142,300 (Next 160,000)

Combat: Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko (T) Lvl 492, Heavy Blow Lvl 234, Dodge Lvl 250, Block Lvl 177, Calculated Blow Lvl 249, Roundhouse Kick Lvl 197, Idiosyncratic Cut (Un) Lvl 226, Stalemate Breaker Lvl 242, Talon Strike Lvl 246, The March of Ruin and Valor (L) Lvl 201

LoBW Class Skills: Earthquake (Un) Lvl 148, Erode Image (L) Lvl 100, Spriggit’s Tinkering (R) Lvl 257, Aether Understanding (A) Lvl 236, Aether Infusion Lvl 47, Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) Lvl 566, Fruit of the Planting of Enmity (L) Lvl 49, Absolute Timing (Ru) Lvl 224, Cycle of the Gloomy Wood (R) Lvl 45, Lancers of the Baleful Crusade (L) Lvl 351, Torch of Fast and Slow Silences (A) Lvl 331, Sigil of an Approaching Fate (A) Lvl 266

Kismet of the Evolving Creature (P): Chimeric Impunity (M) Lvl 417, The Wandering Deity Demands (T) Lvl 410, Grit of the Ascendent Bane (T) Lvl 433, Maelstrom Entity Approaches (T) Lvl 354, The Ashen Doors to Pandemonium Unlock (M) Lvl 371, The Vindictive Chimera Smites (M) Lvl 395, The Wrathful Calamity Rends (T) Lvl 356, The Grey Creature Glimpses Providence (P) Lvl 412

The Stillborn Phoenix: A Star that Prayed it would be Reborn (P): Piercing Gaze of the Egg (L) Lvl 369, The Tug of Tragic Silence (A) Lvl 378, Cosmic Necessity (M) Lvl 361, Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart (T) Lvl 408, Tide of the Void (L) Lvl 391, Stigma of the Stillborn Phoenix (L) Lvl 395, Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) Lvl 456

Aether Skills: Aether Detection Lvl 356, Aether Manipulation Lvl 302, Living Aether (R) Lvl 265, System Interference Lvl 88, Aether Surgeon (Ru) Lvl 104, Lesser Aether Inoculation (M) Lvl 363

Crafting: Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) Lvl 446, Touch of the Ghosthound (U), Scrawl of the Ghosthound (L) Lvl 275, Grand Perspective (R) Lvl 350

Yggdrasil, the Universe that was First a Tree (P): Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil (L) Lvl 439, The Golden Roots of Yggdrasil (L) Lvl 429, Yggdrasil’s Unruly Ichor (M) Lvl 396, the Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) Lvl 488, the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis (M) Lvl 403, the Implacable Price of Exodus (M) Lvl 391, Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) Lvl 351, Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil (T) Lvl 452

Auxiliary: Yggdrasil Soul Seed (R), Inspiration (R), Burning Footsteps Lvl 223, Cooking Lvl 101, Aether Connection (A) Lvl 21, Soul Bond Lvl 411, Nether Modification (U), (Domain) Crossroads of the Alpha Cosmos Lvl 361, Connection to the Alpha Cosmos (U), Nether Sensation (L) Lvl 401, Precise Nether Ritual (L) Lvl 423, Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) Level 405, Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) Lvl 364

Randidly nodded slowly as he examined his Stats. These months had been extremely productive because he had aimed for something that he had done very rarely in the past: he was grinding Skill Levels.

Specifically, he wanted to push the Skill Levels up on his three images, to improve the power of combining them and help balance the effects. However, once he had started with this task, he didn’t mind picking up some of the smaller combat Skills and utilizing them directly. With his extremely high Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm, Randidly boosted each of those Skills between 60 and 130 Levels.

In turn, he was currently sitting on a little above five thousand PP, which is an amount that he rarely accumulated except when his Tithe from the Alpha Cosmos came due. Randidly looked at his Status again, but could only shake his head. Even with this massive chunk of PP that I’ve gathered over the past few months, I’m only one-third of the way through triggering the Next Tithe. And this time, I’ve picked all the low-hanging fruit- most of my core Skills are near 400, or above it.

Randidly did stumble across an area of focus that didn’t relate to Skill Levels in his grinding: resonance with Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko. When he was training with the old physical Skills that he hadn’t thought about in a while, he could feel a nascent form of a Skillset beginning to percolate in his Soulspace. However, he needed to think very deeply about how to proceed.

He didn’t want to create a fourth dominant image that he would need to juggle. But if he could combine all these things into a Skillset focused on fighting…? Make that Skillset consist of the combined, triple image physicalizations?

With a wry smile on his face, he shook himself. Perhaps I’m getting greedy. But I don’t think I have much choice but to keep struggling to improve. Then again, maybe the smart thing would be to incorporate those Skills into one of the other images. That way I things don’t become messier than they already are.

In addition to his focus on Skill Levels, Randidly had continued to improve his capabilities with Nether. Slowly, as he used his naturally flexible energy to improve both of the two Weight enhancements he already established around his Nether Core, he began to understand exactly how much his Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae aided him.

Nether was an unruly and unpredictable energy. Only due to his extremely high Stats was he able to make such steady improvements. Otherwise, without a firm hand guiding it through the different arrays, small deviations in execution would have muddied the water of the result.

With such a pile of PP, Randidly opened up his Path menu and looked through the different options, cutting out some of the earlier Paths that didn’t interest him..

The Bell of Doom Tolls 0/600, Cleaver of the World Tree ???, Weakness of the World Tree 0/500, Guilty Conscience I 0/100, 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, Mysteries of the Fiery Emerald Waltz 0/???, Violent Heat I 0/???, Sovereign of Violence I 0/1000, Deathwish X 0/5, The Pursuit of Alchemy 0/750, Weakness of the Stillborn Phoenix 0/500, The Shadow Beyond the Threshold 0/???, Primordial Might 0/????, The Passion sans Shape I 0/???, Architecture of Yggdrasil I 0/????, The Trace of the Ideal 0/???, Emotional Evolution I 0/500, Breath of the Imaginary Firebird 0/1000, The Throne of Nether Homage I 0/500, Stat Evolution IV 0/1000, Spark of the Origin Beast 0/?????, The Eyelids of the Grey Creature Flutter 0/10,000, Determined III 0/300, Violent Currents of Amenoumi 0/2500

Randidly considered the available Paths. He took particular note of the fact that all of the previous Paths relating to the Grim Chimera had vanished. In its stead, he only possessed the Eyelids of the Grey Creature Flutter, which had a too-steep price of 10k PP. Plus, it seemed that the System sensed his efforts with his spear use.

Still, what immediately caught Randidly’s eyes was the continuation of the Determined Path he had started earlier. Since the cost was only 300, he didn’t mind pushing it to the fifth leg of Paths to see the result.

Congratulations! You have completed the Determined III Path! You continue to tirelessly explore every avenue, accumulating experience. These small Paths may not be covered in riches, but you walk them with confidence. There is meaning to your continued dedication to improvement.

Branching Path! Although you have made some small discoveries about yourself, there is no sudden epiphany waiting for you at the end of this Path. Would you like to collect a very small reward now or defer the reward for later?

Congratulations! All Stats +5!

Congratulations! You have completed the Determined IV Path! The depths of your determination know no bounds! You continue to pursue opportunities in even the most unlikely of places. Due to your adventures, you begin to sense the shape of something larger lurking in your subconscious. There is a truth about the world that you are slowly learning by following your intuition.

Branching Path! Although you have made some discoveries about yourself, there is no sudden epiphany waiting for you at the end of this Path. Would you like to collect a small reward now or defer the reward for later?

Congratulations! All Attributes +200!

Congratulations! You have completed the Determined V Path! What do you sense from the edge of the horizon that continues to draw you further? Because you have not relented in your pursuit of improvement in mundane locales. That sense you feel is building, but at the same time, you begin to doubt the efficacy of your Path. If there was truly a secret to this

Branching Path! You feel confident in your exploration of the surroundings. Perhaps the reward won’t be large, but you can sharpen your mentality through these adventures. Would you like to collect your well-deserved reward now or continue to waste your time?

Randidly rubbed his chin. You know, when you so obviously want to nudge me toward the reward, I almost want to just keep persisting…