Over the next hour, Randidly grew much more accustomed to the usage and costs of the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night through repeated exposure. Perhaps more importantly for his present purposes, he discovered that no matter what combination of knowledge that he attempted to reveal to the version of Illym from within the Dreamcatcher, no matter what Randidly said, she would attack him and kill him within ten seconds of his appearing there.

Hard to know if that’s due to the fact that it is a moment caught somehow in the Dreamcatcher or not, Randidly thought rather morosely. But I suppose if this truly was the most vulnerable moment exactly before Illym was going to kill herself, it makes a certain amount of sense to react very poorly to a stranger abruptly intruding...

In addition, Randidly realized that the mental ‘cost’ associated with the Dreamcatcher was fixed to the time that Randidly spent within the conjured world. So even though Randidly used the Dreamcatcher perhaps thirty times in the hour as he was gathering information, he was nowhere near as tired as he had been after visiting that moment Yystrix isolated him.

Primarily because Illym kept killing him with an annoying amount of efficiency.

It was discouraging for Randidly to encounter this figure, who although clearly being very powerful in her day, could very quickly wipe the floor with any of Randidly’s three images in a direct confrontation. Perhaps if he had some more space to maneuver he could last longer…

Or if he could fucking utilize Nether…

Honestly, losing to Illym wasn’t nearly as depressing as the attempt to use Nether while fighting within the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night. No sooner had Randidly allowed Nether to manifest in the air around his body than three sharp senses of Perception locked onto his position. All had a vicious sort of determination to kill him.

Two he recognized as Illym’s parents, but the third…

The third wiped me out of existence as soon as it found me, Randidly thought sourly. He flexed his fingers in frustration and winced as he examined the situation in his inner world. In addition, whoever that individual was inflicted actual damage to my Nether that stayed with me out to the real world… I suppose it makes sense that if this item is based on the concepts of Nether, that its influence might taint my actual Nether…

Safer to avoid using Nether in the future… in this case, it's a good thing that the moment resets every time.

Ultimately, the damage he sustained slowed the development of his Nether nebula, but luckily it seemed that Nether would rapidly recovered to its complete point once he was back in the real world, standing in the silvery mist of his island. After fifteen minutes, Randidly released a relieved sigh and prepared to try again.

Although the current situation was something that he hadn’t expected or completely understood, Randidly rapidly developed a plan to utilize this strange moment, likely as the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night encouraged him to do. In order to not develop any sort of bad mental habits in regards to dying, he was very careful to now categorize it as a form of extreme training in his mind.

After all, what had started this situation was his desire to improve Ignition Essence, correct? So he would respond to Illym’s image solely with Ignition Essence. By repeated exposure and clashes between the two images, Randidly believed he could slowly absorb a portion of the horrifying heat that Illym used, quite like he did in that temple dedicated to ancient Styles on Tellus. The chill he had received there had been very useful in making the 7 Kata of the Ashen Spear.

So the next time Randidly conjured himself into that awkward moment that Illym held the point of her sword to her breastbone, he didn’t hesitate; he raised his hand and launched a Phoenix Slaying Bolt directly at her head.

Congratulations! Your Skill Phoenix Slaying Bolt (Ru) has grown to Level 195!

Congratulations! Your Skill Ignition of the Emerald Essence (L) has grown to Level 225!

Due to her extensive martial background, Illym’s sword blurred upward and deflected the Phoenix Slaying Bolt harmlessly to the side. Then she surged forward with the weapon raised and a billowing, battering ram of an image smashed painfully into Randidly’s chest. Grunting, he did his best to resist his skin melting and his bones catching fire.

Congratulations! Your Skill Stigma of the Lifeless Phoenix (L) has grown to Level 236!

With his effort split between observing the offending image and defending himself, Randidly was only able to last a few seconds. The heat relentlessly smoldered at his defense until they gave way. Then he was floating again in the chiming interior of the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night. He checked Absolute Timing and discovered that five seconds had passed. With a sigh, Randidly returned his perspective to his body and meditated for a short amount of time.

The action was partially to recover his focus, but also to so he could begin adjusting Ignition Essence. Compared to the domineering heat that Illym released, Ignition Essence truly was a mild flame. Hot, sure, but it possessed none of the almost glassy-eyed fatalism that Randidly could sense in Illym’s flame.

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Illym’s flame was willing to destroy itself to accomplish its goal… which, paradoxically, was destroying itself. Randidly supposed that moment right before Illym’s death might be the high watermark of her image’s potency. Which was both a blessing and a curse.

When he had finished tuning up Ignition Essence’s image, Randidly fought with Illym again. As soon as he arrived he unleashed a blistering barrage of emerald flame. In response, He experienced her image one more time.

And then again.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ignition of the Emerald Essence (L) has grown to Level 233!

And then again.

And then again.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ignition of the Emerald Essence (L) has grown to Level 251!

After almost twenty more attempts, Randidly was forced to slow down the rate of his challenges against Illym due to his depleted mental strength. In addition to the increases in all of his Skill Levels related to Ignition Essence, Randidly also was starting to have some concrete gains in terms of the potency of his image.

Part of it was learning to endure Illym’s fire for longer periods of time with Stigma of the Lifeless Phoenix, which let him utilize Ignition Essence more fully in the conflicts. The flames tempered each other, but only Randidly kept the benefits. But it was also because Randidly had a burst of inspiration one of the times that Illym had roasted him to a crisp: one way to unite the emotions of Illym with the sparks of inspiration from Ignition Essence was by gradually incorporating Innate Violence into Ignition Essence.

Innate Violence was the evolved form of Combat Proficiency. And in Randidly’s mind, if he thought about Innate Violence in a certain way, it could be considered both complimentary with the dark, burdened emotions of Illym and the sudden bursts of novel inspiration that could be obtained from Ignition Essence.

In order to properly prepare himself, Randidly took almost a half-hour to slowly push himself into that headspace. He carefully considered the relationship between the different Skills and images, checking to make sure this premise was reasonable. As far as he could tell, it was workable. With renewed vigor, Randidly went into the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night to confront Illym. His consciousness brushed that insistent chime.

When the surroundings stopped shifting, Randidly threw himself forward. Emerald and orange fire swirled around his body, but that wasn’t the main form of his attack. Instead, his leg whipped out in a kick toward Illym’s temple.

With an annoying amount of poise, Illym took a half step back and then twisted her sword around. Her powerful image of fire swirled around her in an almost defensive conflagration that immediately began to char Randidly’s skin. A tornado of fire erupted from the ground. Gritting his teeth, Randidly forced a denser wave of emerald and orange flames out from his pores and began to repel the worst of the heat.

Congratulations! Your Skill Stigma of the Lifeless Phoenix (L) has grown to Level 256!

Just barely, with the combination of his Skill and working his images to the limit, Randidly achieved a sort of balance with the ambient heat that Illym’s image produced. With the advantage of surprise, she couldn’t just overwhelm him with the force of her image any longer. Which allowed Randidly to take another step forward and launch out a Talon Strike toward his foe. A few seconds later, Randidly was out of the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night.

Turns out that she’s damn good at close combat as well, Level 90 Talon Strikes are not gonna cut it... Randidly laughed wryly to himself. Then he rolled his shoulders and tried again. He stuck with Skills not relating to Yggdrasil or the Grim Chimera, which essentially meant that it took a while for Randidly to find the groove for close combat.

The Skills he utilized were simply that weak. Considering the pressure Randidly was already under from Illym’s image and her quick responses, this resulted in another two dozen losses before Randidly could sneeze.

But each time, Randidly gained a couple of Skill Levels here and there. Each time he grew more accustomed to associating Innate Violence with Ignition Essence and the strong negative emotions that he had inherited from the woman that he now fought against. Each time he edged a little bit closer to a powerful image after their confrontation.

Ignition Essence burned a little bit brighter. Strange shadows could be seen moving within the shifting flames. The heat it released became a heavy, vicious thing radiating outward from a cooler and aloof core.

When Randidly returned to his physical body once more, he was sweating heavily. Panting, he looked at his Status screen. Immediately, his eyes widened.

All this in four hours of concentrated effort! Randidly was honestly rather impressed with his speed of improvement. At some point, he had gotten back up to possessing 650 PP. Which was plenty to start on any interesting Paths that he had available to him. So he took a glance at the Path screen.

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, Mysteries of the Fiery Emerald Waltz 0/???, Violent Heat I 0/???

Randidly took note of the two new Paths likely relating to Ignition Essence that had appeared, but he knew that he wouldn’t take them for the foreseeable future. He believed his prior thought process about waiting to take Paths until his image was set was the correct one.

Still, how do normal people manage to not rip their hair out with Path related decisions? Randidly thought as he scanned through his choices. I get so much PP, but there are simply so many more things that I want to try…

His decision making on his next Path was put on hold, however, as he felt a familiar sensation overtake him: Reign of the Eidolon Crucible had been triggered.

It seemed that Kharon wasn’t quite done celebrating his birthday. And what better way for Randidly to work of some aggression than with some harmless violence against foes weaker than him?