The Book of Names seemed like an interesting Skill to possess, but it was certainly not the sort of thing that Randidly was talking about when he was wishing for a reward. It made sense as a result considering the Path he took to earn it, but it seemed like there wouldn’t be many areas where it would be useful. Passively gathering information, sure that will give Randidly an edge, but other than that…

Although I was critical of earning PP the old fashioned way, it’s how I got to this point. And this one literally seems to just grow from me knowing information about them. It doesn’t even have any text that shows the effects. It just… grows as I gather understanding. Which I would be doing anyway, so being paid PP for my trouble is fine.

Such a lackluster award did mean, however, that Randidly was less than surprised when he saw the next branch of the linking Path had once more hopped up quite a bit: Search for the Akashic V 0/5000.

“Guess I’m not fucking finishing it today,” Randidly sighed in defeat. And in fact, Randidly ultimately decided to set aside this Path for now. Pumping 1800 PP into it would get him a relevant chunk of the way there, but it wasn’t even halfway through the Path. Although Randidly would gather enough PP to finish that Path before he received another tithe from his Soulskill, taking victories from finishing other small Paths seemed like a much more realistic method of growing.

So once more, Randidly took his 1800 PP and looked at the list of Paths available to him.

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, Bearing of a Teacher ???, Puppet Master 0/100, Pain Immunity I 0/250, Chimera’s Grudge I ???, Cleaver of the World Tree ???, Weakness of the World Tree 0/500, Experimenter IV 0/1250, Leader of the Apocalyptic Crusade ???, 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

After completing the other Paths, Randidly did have two more options than he did previously, relating to the evolved forms of Skills in Yggdrasil, the Universe that was First a Tree. However, Randidly didn’t want to spend even more PP working on the Yggdrasil Skillset before he had some time to grow used to the changes, so those were set to the side. The new images were already plenty powerful; what he needed now was practice with them.

And Randidly’s reasoning about the Paths relating to the hiltless blade and the Ashes Paths remained the same, which allowed Randidly to eliminate quite a few options and find himself choosing between five Paths.

The Bell of Doom Tolls 0/600, Pain Immunity I 0/250, Chimera’s Grudge I ???, Leader of the Apocalyptic Crusade ???, Peerage of the Baleful Court I 0/600

The Bell of Doom Tolls was an older Path that Randidly believed was related to some of his early images of the Spear Phantom. The large chime of a clock, the passage of time. Likely completing the Path would lead to an attack Skill that he could use as inspiration for the Grim Chimera. Which, considering that his current Grim Chimera Skills possessed an extra punch due to Nether, was only slightly appealing.

In addition, if Randidly wanted to empower the Grim Chimera, Chimera’s Grudge I seemed like a much more straightforward method of doing so. It was a much more recently acquired Path, and also Randidly could understand very easily how the image of a grudge could become part of the Grim Chimera. But again, Randidly looked at the fact that it was a linking Path with a slightly bitter expression.

Pain Immunity seemed self-explanatory, although once more Randidly was unwilling to choose a linking Path based upon his earlier experience. The degree of PP required for it was quite a bit smaller than the Search for the Akashic Path, but how long would that last?

The final two Paths that Randidly considered were appealing because they would improve the abilities of his Riders and perhaps also his ability to lead more broadly. Leader of the Apocalyptic Crusade and Peerage of the Baleful Court both seemed like they possessed a lot of potential. Yet the only one of the two that Randidly could see the total length of was also a linking Path! It felt like these Paths were a series of traps that had been left for him, and despite knowing better Randidly was a helpless fool who wandered back over to them.

Sighing, Randidly’s finger drifted toward Leader of the Apocalyptic Crusade. If nothing else, this does have the word Leader in its title. Hopefully, it will let me help with the battle on the frontlines…

Although I hope to get out of most of my stay here, this looming battle will be difficult. Even if Lord Miln seems unnaturally confident, I don’t doubt that surviving at my amount of strength will be a struggle. And if I can help other people survive…

It was an old memory, but one that Randidly always came back to. The sight of the freshly dug graves along the banks of the Hallat River.

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For each 10 points Randidly put into it, he alternated earning 1 Agility and 1 Wisdom. And Randidly was rather pleased to see that it ended up being only a 500 PP Path.

Congratulations! You have finished the Leader of the Apocalyptic Crusade Path! Although you walk over the cracked ground of brimstone and ash, you will not cease in the pursuit of your personal justice. With a sky quaking above, you ride forward. This is a world where the strong make the law, and you are determined to gather enough strength and momentum to provide a modicum of predictability and balance to this land of broken promises.

Yet the more you war, the more you cannot avoid the identity crisis that lies at the heart of this Path you’ve chosen; are you trying to alleviate an apocalypse that occurred long ago, or do you proudly bear the name Apocalypse for this imperfect world?

Will you tear all this down for your justice?

Congratulations! Agility and Strength +40! Synchronicity detected! Your Skill Flowing Momentum has evolved into Ruinous Drive (Ru)! All Skill Levels will be maintained! Followers affected by Ruinous Drive will inflict slightly more damage with all methods of attack and will have a slight chance of ignoring the target’s Resistance! Amount of additional damage increases with Skill Level. Chance to ignore a percentage of Resistance increases with Skill Level. Amount of Resistance ignored increases with Skill Level.

It’s nice to finally be right for once, Randidly thought with a smile. It wasn’t a new Skill, and it was an open question whether Nether Beasts had Resistance for the Skill to ignore, but it was a much more concrete effect than the momentum that the Skill previously provided. Plus it seemed like he could extend this Skill farther than Flowing Momentum, which only affected those physically following Randidly.

With 1300 or so PP remaining, Randidly just accepted the risk of the linking Path and started pouring PP into the Chimera’s Grudge. His lips quirked up in annoyance when he learned that it was a 1000 PP Path, but Randidly still finished it out. It earned him 5 Strength every 100 PP spent.

Congratulations! You have finished the Chimera’s Grudge I Path! The Grim Chimera is a creature that has always been persecuted for its existence. It is a life that-

Warning! Change detected… Recalculating...

Integrating recent developments…

The Grim Chimera is a life that is tainted by Nether. As the Grim Chimera has grown to discover this truth, you can feel naught but helplessness. Despite the obvious danger that they present, there is no way to remove the notes of Nether that have found their home in the Grim Chimera’s body. So you must continue to walk forward even as every step of yours drives that taint deeper into the core of your being. Tread carefully, wanderer.

Congratulations! +20 to all Stats as your body evolves to face adversity! You have learned the Skill Nether Infection ® Lvl 1!

Nether Infection ®: Nether will unpredictably interfere with your attacks, causing vastly increased damage. Warning! Some entities relating to the System will react violently when they realize that you have a Nether Infection! Warning! At some point, the Nether might attempt to take over your body.

“You are full of shit,” Randidly chuckled. There was a curious sort of detached brutality as Randidly cracked his knuckles and prepared to do what he knew he was about to do.

His first response was to examine the newly created Skill in his chest. And certainly, one thing that this Skill did was plant a deep seed of a grudge in his heart for a System. Because Randidly watched the System try to gather up some of the Nether present in his being, bind it together, and then use it like a doping agent. The Skill was practically a syringe that warped Nether, and the hand holding it was the System’s.

As Randidly examined the Skill, Randidly could see the mechanism it would use to operate unpredictably. And he didn’t miss the way that the operation would be recorded by the overlay System. Randidly’s first instinct was to rip the Skill out of his chest, but he remembered Octavius Shrike’s warning.

His second instinct was to head into the Alpha Cosmos where the overlay System was no longer run by the System and rip the damn thing out with prejudice. But Randidly wasn’t sure if Azriel would be able to hide what he had done for when he returned to the real world and was exposed to the original overlay.

So it was Randidly’s third idea that struck his as the most reasonable. And as a nice demonstration of poetic justice.

Randidly’s mouth twisted into a vicious grin. Do you think you can cage and manipulate me, just like you are attempting to do with this Nether? Let’s see what your fucked up overlay System thinks about this, you fuck.

Although his Nether was attuned to his Aether, it didn’t need to be that way. Randidly pulled deeply from his Nether Wells and gathered some raw Nether into his hands. With his Nether Adaption, it barely even felt painful to handle it. But as Randidly dumped the untreated Nether directly over the raw Aether of the Skill, the form of the Skill began to warp and boil.

...but it did not break. To Randidly’s surprise, the Skill was surprisingly resilient. Although it was clear that this resiliency was only because it instinctively drew on Randidly’s ambient Aether in order to heal through the damage done by the Nether.

Snorting, Randidly cut off that flow of Aether and gathered even more Nether into a tight orb of destruction between his palms. Then he doused this new Skill with Nether until the Nether at its core ruptured outward and melted the surrounding Aether to nothing but that grey putty that Yggdrasil had used to try and make an incubator for Ignition Essence. For good measure, Randidly poured more Nether over it. A notification popped up in front of Randidly.

Warning! Due to instability amongst Nether, one of your Skills has been damaged beyond repair! Please see a Village Spirit in order to correct this problem. Warning, a delay may result in sickness or death as Nether spreads throughout your body!

“Ha. Funny joke,” Randidly spat on the ground. “Good riddance, you piece of shit.”