Honestly, Randidly liked the timing of the notification; it would mean that there would be an added sense of purpose to the discussions that he wanted to have with the leadership of Earth. A tangible threat would serve as a focal point for the diverse group. But he did almost immediately sense a change in the usual Aether composition of New Earth as the notification was announced. Whatever this was, it was big.

Randidly walked to the edge of his island and frowned out toward the mountain range to their North. Corrupted invaders… it almost sounds like they are trying to introduce Nether to Earth. But from the images I sense…

In reality, it was comically easy for Randidly to use Grim Intuition to quickly scan the remaining Danger Zones on Earth and locate the hidden bases. Although they were all quite far from his position, his upgraded Perception Stat was more than capable enough to reach across that distance. Even more importantly, the images wafting out of the affected Danger Zones were strong enough that Randidly expected some of the regular people on Earth would be able to sense their presence if they were near the Danger Zone.

These images were strong. At least as strong as Wolfram had been.

Still, it was the taste of the invader’s Aether that made Randidly’s eyes narrow. These aren’t some wild invaders. That is extremely rigid Nexus Aether that they are bringing. With images strong enough that they shouldn’t have failed the first two Calamities… and there’s still the question of the Epic Danger Zone…

Despite Randidly’s best efforts, however, he could find no clue of this Epic Danger Zone. But he could continue to feel the Aether mechanisms that surrounded the Earth becoming even more convoluted. Something was shifting within the fabric of the System. Scowling, Randidly sent out of several messages. One to Vualla, Lady Iellaya, and Octavius Shrike to find out if this sort of thing was common.

In the meantime, Randidly almost immediately put PP into the High Potential Path that the System gave out. If it was a trap, Randidly was confident that he would be able to find a way around it. And he wanted to know if there was more at play in this sudden change in rewards than met the eye. Besides, unlike most people, Randidly had 200 PP to spare immediately.

Better he find out the Path was useless than an innocent who struggled to gather that 200 PP.

To his surprise, it seemed like there wasn’t anything dangerous about the Path. It even rewarded 1 free Stat every 5 PP, which was a throwback to some of the earlier Paths that Randidly had access to.

Congratulations! You have finished the High Potential Path. It seems that the road in front of you is smooth, but the truth is you are just adapting very quickly to the terrain. As you proceed forward, you quickly shift and grow more quickly than your peers. Because of your outstanding abilities, it is a definite possibility that you will reach unprecedented heights in your time within the Nexus.

Congratulations! +5 Health, Mana, and Stamina per Level! +2 Free Stats per Level! You have learned the Skill Quick Learner (Un) Lvl 1!

Quick Learner: You adapt slightly more quickly to new movements or knowledge. Effect slightly increases with Skill Level.

Resonance detected-

Your Skills Quick Learner and Fighting Experience have combined to form the Skill Innate Violence (Ru)! Skill Level set at 175! The effects of all Skills that inflict damage is slightly increased.

“It even comes with a pat on the back,” he chuckled as he examined the notification.

Aside from the Skill evolution that occurred, Randidly was rather confident that everyone who finished the Path would receive the same notification. He was also quite careful to watch for shifting Aether constructs around him during the process, but he found nothing. As far as he could tell, this really was just a way of boosting the potential of Earth.

Unfortunate for the people that have already gained most of their Levels, but every little bit counts… Randidly rubbed his chin and then sent a message to Tatiana to share the knowledge of the Path with all of the people on Kharon and the other political powers on Earth. And right when he received Tatiana’s acknowledgment, Randidly received a response to his earlier messages.

To his surprise, it was Octavius Shrike who responded.

The order for this special scenario came down from the Nexus Council itself. Supposedly as a reward for your exemplary performance on the frontlines. Someone clearly is onto your… uniqueness. It’s out of my hands, but I can warn you that a Seventh Zone is in its Raid Dungeon as we speak. Do to my objection to the fairness, their time is only being accelerated to double as quickly as yours, but this task they gave you is a difficult one. I’ll tell you more tomorrow. Be careful.

Randidly’s expression was grim as he regarded that message. Because it was exactly what he hadn’t wanted to hear. The rewards were likely real but were just used as a front to justify whatever consequences would be still lurking in Earth’s Danger Zones if they didn’t manage to clear them out in time.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

But then it begged the question: who was moving against him from the Nexus? At least the message finally confirmed that Octavius was coming to his party, and would hopefully have more information for Randidly on what was happening.

Zone 32 had taken almost a month to clear their Raid Dungeon, but part of that might be the interference of the Creature making the process more difficult. But considering it had taken this new Zone longer to attempt the Raid Dungeon… perhaps it was fair to give them a similar time. At half speed… that meant there would be about two weeks remaining to clear out three Danger Zones and then the epic Danger Zone waiting beyond them if they wanted the reward.

Of course, this was assuming that there were genuine benefits waiting at the end of these hoops the System was asking them to jump through. But after seeing the High Potential Path, Randidly was willing to cautiously proceed forward with that assumption.

Besides, Randidly through with a sigh. I suppose I plan on trying to accomplish this anyway, to take care of this new threat to Earth. The only question is how much I deviate from my thoughts on non-interference…

Especially because this isn’t just a special event that threatens the Earth; if this is someone within the Nexus targeting me, they must be confident that the threats hiding in the Epic Danger Zone are a threat even to me… or will something change after the Calamity arrives, and they plan on hiding out until then…?

At the moment, there was very little that he could glean from the information available. Still, Randidly had some time to consider exactly how to address the problem. And it didn’t seem nearly as depressing when the free Stat points that Randidly received from the Path were enough to push his Nether Brawn just to 1000. Almost immediately, Randidly felt the muscles in his body twist and flex. A searing heat spread outward from his beating heart and flowed down to his fingers and his toes.

As he slowly twisted his body, his back and neck cracked, releasing a wave of cooling relaxation that spread all down his spine. Randidly released a breath and rolled his shoulders. Heh, Naffur is lucky that I didn’t get my Nether Brawn to 1000 until after our little boxing match. I almost want to challenge him to another… Plus, Resistance and Reaction are getting pretty close to 1000 too… if I gain another Level, I can get at least one of them up there.

Humming to himself, Randidly looked at his Status screen.

Randidly Ghosthound

Class: Lord of the Baleful Wood (x5)

Level: 60 (4%)

Health(/R per hour): 11739/11739 (4656)

Mana(/R per hour): 11063/11063 (2746)

Stam(/R per min): 8301/8422 (1737)

Vit: 1045

End: 906

Nether Brawn (A): 1000

Agi: 1179

Grim Intuition (L): 1070

Reaction: 947

Resistance: 998

Willpower: 1157

Intelligence: 1052

Wisdom: 718

Control: 1330

Focus: 792

Skills (Soul Skill): Figure of the Alpha Cosmos Lvl 23400

Combat: Spear Mastery Lvl 303, Heavy Blow Lvl 124, Iron Skin Lvl 47, Dodge Lvl 124, Innate Violence (Ru) Lvl 175, Block Lvl 77, Calculated Blow Lvl 120, Roundhouse Kick Lvl 87, Idiosyncratic Cut (Un) Lvl 126, Stalemate Breaker Lvl 112, Talon Strike Lvl 90, Counter Lvl 94, Ruinous Drive (Ru) Lvl 73

LoBW Class Skills: Spray Holy Sap (Un) Lvl 27, Sharpness Lvl 149, Earthquake (Un) Lvl 48, Invigorating Call (Humanity)(Un) Lvl 14, Erode Image (L) Lvl 100, Spriggit’s Tinkering (R) Lvl 152, Aether Understanding (A) Lvl 140, Aether Infusion Lvl 47, Volatile Ash (A) Lvl 44, Visualization (R) Lvl 254, Fruit of the Planting of Enmity (L) Lvl 49, Absolute Timing (Ru) Lvl 116, Cycle of the Gloomy Wood (R) Lvl 45, Riders of the Baleful Court (A) Lvl 159, Lantern of Harsh Truths (R) Lvl 85, Sigil of an Approaching Fate (A) Lvl 66, Profound Influence (A) Lvl 21, Reckoning of the Bleak Dawn (L) Lvl 99

Descent of the Grim Chimera (M): Chimeric Avoidance (L) Lvl 237, Cursed Appetite of a Wraith (L) Lvl 275, Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality (A) Lvl 257, Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe (L) Lvl 105, Molten Fang of the Pariah (L) Lvl 209, Man is Proud, but the Chimera Takes (L) Lvl 200, The Chimera Weeps as Man Mourns (L) Lvl 157, All Else Succombs, Yet Time Whirls the Earth (M) Lvl 161

Aether Skills: Aether Detection Lvl 192, Aether Manipulation Lvl 215, Living Aether (R) Lvl 160, System Interference Lvl 88, Aether Surgeon (Ru) Lvl 99

Spells: Yggdrasil Soul Seed (R), Inspiration (R), Phoenix-Slaying Bolt (Ru) Lvl 190, Firebird’s Lament (A) Lvl 111, Burning Footsteps Lvl 23, Nether’s Caress (M) Lvl 126, Authority of the Burning Heart (A) Lvl 126, Talon of the Restless Immortal (L) Lvl 187, Ignition of the Emerald Essence (L) Lvl 215, Stigma of the Lifeless Phoenix (L) Lvl 232,

Crafting: Potion Making Lvl 73, Farming Lvl 34, Analyze Lvl 29, Refine Lvl 106, Extract Lvl 92, Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) Lvl 253, Experienced Creator’s Ingenuity (A) Lvl 68, Touch of the Ghosthound (U)

Yggdrasil, the Universe that was First a Tree (P): Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil (L) Lvl 190, The Golden Roots of Yggdrasil (L) Lvl 228, the Emerald Sap of Yggdrasil (L) Lvl 199, the Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) Lvl 241, the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis (M) Lvl 252, the Implacable Price of Exodus (M) Lvl 219, Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) Lvl 206, Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil (T) Lvl 286

Auxiliary: Sneak Lvl 56, Acid Resistance Lvl 22, Poison Resistance Lvl 21, Sewing Lvl 11, Digging Lvl 9, Cooking Lvl 101, Clockwork Mastery Lvl 30, Aether Connection (A) Lvl 21, Soul Bond Lvl 135, Chef’s Palette Lvl 36, Nether Modification (U), Child of the Rain (Un) Lvl 59, Engineering Savvy (R) Lvl 154, From Darkness, Genesis (R) Lvl 17, (Domain) Crossroads of the Alpha Cosmos Lvl 190, Connection to the Alpha Cosmos (U), Nether Sensation (L) Lvl 135, Nether Ritual (A) Lvl 143

Randidly looked at the sky when he was finished going through his Status screen. The sun was setting over the horizon, signaling that April 27th would soon end. Which meant that tomorrow would be his birthday.

So, what sort of day will tomorrow be…?