Left with no other choice, Randidly was forced to give in to Tatiana’s smug face. He could only shake his head and leave the office while muttering to himself. “They want me to make myself a home now? Do they really think I have nothing but time after being away from Earth for so long…?”

Yet somehow, Randidly couldn’t be mad. He quickly left Kharon proper and landed on solid ground. Then he headed a bit to the North, where he had originally arranged a viewing area for the three platforms. Snorting to himself, Randidly used Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil to pick the three pieces up and move them closer together.

As Randidly looked at the spacious tract of land that had been made by combining the three original pieces of ground and couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of satisfaction in his chest. Not from the land, although he had really taken care to make sure that all three tracts were arranged in ways that were aesthetically pleasing.

No, what pleased Randidly was that these people wanted him to build a home here. Because they sensed that Kharon was his. Likely they didn’t understand how perfectly this mirrored Randidly’s own feelings and meant this only as a show of respect, but it felt good all the same.

So Randidly walked slowly over to the assembled platform, with the currently resting Kharon casting a shadow across him, spread his Grim Intuition slowly outward to examine the space with an even more critical eye. He took in the details of the small grove of trees at one end of three-leaf clover shaped area, the lake at the other end, and the flower-filled meadow in the third area. With a wave of his hand, Randidly used Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil again to pull up a large about of soil and fill in the gaps.

It was slightly awkward, but Randidly only took a few minutes to squeeze additional soil into the cracks so the three islands could be merged into one extremely large island. Then, before Randidly even made the Engraving across the land he released a blast of energy that flowed outward and began to sink into the ground. His hands flexed and the energy seemed to spiral out of him endlessly.

Of course, Randidly didn’t release Aether; he released Nether.

The physical space in the surrounding area shuddered at first from exposure to Nether, but Randidly kept his images flowing outward with the energy. Although the ambient Aether of the System reacted negatively to its presence, Randidly used his image to push away that System Aether and spread his own Aether to encapsulate his island.

It was relatively simple, too. After all, any Aether his missed would fizzle angrily when exposed to Nether, quickly revealing the flaw. Bit by bit, the island and the surrounding space came to be dominated by Randidly’s Aether.

Even though Randidly had plenty of Aether to fuel the process, he still took his time. Because Randidly wanted to use this chance to build a house as a way to work on his Nether Skills. After using Nether Ritual while communicating with Neveah, he realized that he had largely ceased improving his understanding of his Nether Gatekeeper qualities after reaching the point of condensing a Nether Gatekeeper core.

Randidly’s emerald eyes glittered. This is a good chance to figure out how much meaning there is in me building a permanent home…

That brought a smile to Randidly’s face. Well… semi-permanent… it will still float around a traveling city, after all…

His attention didn’t waver as he continued to push more and more Nether into the surrounding area. Some of the trees withered and some fish in the lake thrashed as the Nether began to surrounding them, but as soon as Randidly’s Aether pushed the System Aether out of the area the two energies could coexist peacefully. The withering quickly stopped and the fish gradually calmed back down.

The minerals in the ground warped slightly but otherwise were much more well behaved than the living organisms on the island. Soon, the whole of the area had been submerged in Aether with no aberrant reactions. The energies intermingled freely. With a grin on his face, Randidly activated the Nether Wells in his chest and poured out more and more of the energy of connection and memory to pool in the purified area around his future home.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 100!

Randidly could clearly feel the flows of energy in the surrounding area. With light touches he sent them spiraling inward, flowing in just the way that Nether flowed around inside his body. What he wanted to do was closely mirror the movement of Nether in his own person and use the weight of this being his ‘home’ to ground the working.

And as Randidly felt the density of Nether around his island climbing upward, he could feel that it would work. But before he finished assembling the shape, Randidly turned his attention to his Path screen. Hopefully, getting Nether Sensation up to 100 will be enough to earn a Nether related Path…

Honestly, Randidly was initially unsure whether the System could give him straight Nether Paths. It had given him Paths that could acclimate his body to Nether and then later incorporate Nether in a dangerous fashion into his Skills. But as Randidly looked at his Menu screens, his face twisted into a smile. There, sitting at the bottom of his Paths was a new arrival related to Nether.

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, Cleaver of the World Tree ???, Weakness of the World Tree 0/500, Experimenter IV 0/1250, 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, Lesser Nether Core 0/???

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Even though Randidly knew he specifically wanted to improve his Nether related abilities right now, he still once more took some time to look through his available Paths. With the absolutely monstrous growth of his Spear Mastery Skill recently, the total amount of PP he currently possessed was 673.

What depressed Randidly the most about his recent growth was he still hadn’t even triggered a notification from his Alpha Cosmos that told him how much more PP was required before he reached the next round of benefits. But he supposed that it would be a significant amount of PP, considering that it took him about 6000 PP in order to unlock the previous reward.

His gaze, while he considered the Paths before him, was thoughtful, even though Randidly believed he knew which one he would take. While on Earth, most of Randidly’s time was focused on making sure there weren’t any lurking problems that would keep the people of Earth from passing the First Calamity. But while that took quite a bit of attention, hence the fact that Randidly had sat through a year’s worth of meetings in the past week, Earth’s problems didn’t require Randidly address any glaring weaknesses to solve.

He now had enough of a reprieve to actually think about his long term growth when considering Paths. Of course, Randidly was intensely wary of both the Creature and the most powerful individuals from the various planets being connected to Earth through Danger Zones. But after Neveah’s experience fighting against the Toad Lord, Randidly was confident that he currently had a slight edge in terms of image strength over those representatives. And as for the Creature… well, his previous victory expelling her from his Soulskill notwithstanding, he did not have a good track record at predicting her moves.

Plus, the Path he was leaning toward strengthened the not-to-be-underestimated advantage of utilizing Nether. It seemed to be PP well spent if he could make that hidden advantage even more overwhelming.

Still, there were a few other Paths that still tempted Randidly. The Experimenter IV Path would add additional benefits to his crafted materials, and Randidly hoped to have some more time while on Earth to create quality metals that Kharon could store until the Calamity arrived. Plus, Randidly knew that both of the Ashes Paths would likely net him some usable Skills. Both Illym and the Patron of Ash were powerful individuals in their own right, even compared to the current Randidly.

This would be easier if I knew how much time I have on Earth… or even how much time I want to spend on Earth. Randidly furrowed his brow. The arrival of the Calamity is rather unpredictable… and it might be a good idea to follow Lady Iellaya’s advice and visit the Nexus itself.

Plus… Suddenly, Randidly hesitated. The mysterious figure that had spoken to him as he had reached Level 50, Nathaz Eloise, appeared in his mind. Quickly shaking his head, Randidly focused on the task at hand. Those things can wait.

The Yggdrasil Paths would grant obvious power, but Randidly decided to wait before pursuing them. He needed to experiment more with both the Genesis and Exodus Skills before he was willing to take those Paths. He needed a firm image to make sure they would develop to their full potential as Skills with a Mythic rarity.

Image Cooperation, Body Refinement, and Spear Mastery III were actually the most tempting alternatives to Lesser Nether Core. If Image Cooperation provided what Randidly believed it would, he definitely wanted to take that Path eventually. Some part of him urged him that obtaining the benefit sooner was better than later, but Randidly hesitated. Mostly, he believed that until Ignition Essence had evolved into its more complete form, he didn’t wish for his images to blend together too much.

Body Refinement just seemed like it would synergize well with his current physical gifts. With Nether and Aether mingling within him, Randidly’s physical body had a strange, inexplicable weight that was created as the two energies worked together. Pushing the physical force he could wield even higher would undoubtedly be a good thing. Especially because Randidly had observed on the frontlines that a lot of individuals who had mastered images let their body’s strength slowly wane as their pursued mental acuity.

Plus, Randidly didn’t forget that even though the System clearly had influence over Nether, most of the Nexus might not be involved in that. If he worked on improving his strength through body refinement, he could have a way to explain away the ridiculous amount of weight that was present in his physical blows.

Similarly, Randidly was tempted by Spear Mastery III, if just for the possibility of obtaining a higher rarity Skill related to spears. But ultimately, Randidly decided to focus on Lesser Nether Core first. Because without knowing how much PP the Path would require, Randidly didn’t want to put PP elsewhere then find himself unable to immediately finish it.

Randidly did worry that it would condense a useless Nether Core when he finished the Path, but it was worth the risk to test the Path. Especially because he would likely earn access to a Greater Nether Core Path, which was much more intriguing to Randidly.

Humming to himself, Randidly put the PP into the Lesser Nether Core Path. Immediately, he heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that it only required 500 PP. It was unfortunate that he wouldn’t be able to finish other Paths after, but finishing the Lessor Nether Core Path was enough for now. And Randidly was pleasantly surprised to find he got 1 Strength every 5 PP spent.

Congratulations! You have finished the Lesser Nether Core Path! Although you were born a being of Aether, the developments of Fate are mysterious and potent; you have slowly gathered the requisite insights to create a Nether core within your body. Energy flows through you with sinister irascibility, warping the surrounding substances. The Path you take will perhaps make you a poison to your very world, but you cannot deny that you are amassing more and more power…

Congratulations! +500 Health. In addition, your Stat Strength has evolved into Nether Brawn (A)! The effectiveness of your Strength Stat has moderately increased.

The first part of the notification made Randidly frown because he already possessed a Nether Core. But as he looked at the second portion of the notification. Randidly’s gaze turned sharp. A tremor ran through his body as he felt his muscles spasm and change. In addition, Randidly didn’t miss that his Strength stat was suddenly less than 50 away from reaching 1000.

Randidly cracked his knuckles then rubbed his chin. “Maybe I should spend some time Leveling for a bit while we are still outside the Zones…”