There was a brief instant, as Randidly had instinctively smashed downward with his fists, when Randidly felt a paradigm shift. In his movements, he broke past some sort of subconscious limit in what he could accomplish with his physical body. His Nether Brawn had truly manifested itself, shattering the surrounding crystal with prejudice.

Now, the crystal was obviously not a very structurally sound material, but the size of the effect that Randidly had generated spoke to the power surpassing that boundary would grant him. Finally, he had managed to bring his physical gifts to bear. And as he stood on that platform of roots and looked toward the distant depth of the hole he had created, he began re-examining the sensations. And when Randidly came to a conclusion as to the cause, it surprised him.

He had been able to exert such power because Randidly had truly believed such an effect could be achieved at that moment. It was the result of a subconscious image; that result was in line with what he could accomplish.

If Randidly couldn’t imagine what such uncontrollable physical gifts would look like, he should focus on what he knew, being a human, and up the base specs on which he was running. In this case, by pushing his heart rate upward beyond what a normal human could withstand toward what was possible with his high Vitality and Endurance.

Because the heart was the engine of the human body. If he could raise his heart rate to monstrous proportions, perhaps his monstrous physicality would finally feel right to Randidly. The engine would power all the machinery that had remained frustratingly underperforming thus far.

“Heh,” Randidly chuckled, looking down at the knuckles of his fists. One was black metal covered in white lines of energy and one was normal flesh. Both fists were his, through and through, fists that he had fought with for years. But looking back, with the strengthening of his images, he had started to dissociate with his own body as he had grown stronger. All his focus was geared toward sharpening his mind to impress his will on the world. It was no wonder that he was having difficulty controlling his physical power.

When was the last time he thought about what his human body was capable of…?

Randidly departed from the Danger Zone with his Fatepiece but didn’t return to Kharon or his island. He had learned his lesson from destroying the already very Broken Caverns; instead, Randidly headed deep into the vast grassland that Kharon was trooping across and set up a short term camp for himself.

Just as Randidly was about to begin his training, he received a reminder from Tatiana to make a decision on foreign policy toward the Blighted Paragon and his bubble city by tonight. Vye’s meeting had gone well, so they had a little bit more context in which to make that decision. That report was forward to Randidly, to peruse as he made his decision.

For now, Randidly set that issue to the side. He closed his eyes and released a breath. With Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil, he pulled down all of the surrounding grass to make a flat surface in a smaller area. Then, rather than beginning to train, Randidly produced some wood he had laying around in his interspatial ring and set about making a fire.

After the fire was created, he pulled out his new Engraved iron pan and made a mental note to ask Tatiana who had given it to him so he could thank them. Then his Grim Intuition billowed outward in a large area. Randidly quickly located a Level 70 Two-Headed Cobalt Adder nearby and directed Acri to go hunt their dinner. To which Acri responded in absolute delight; after all, it had been quite some time since Acri had been able to devour experience.

It shyly asked if it should only kill the one Two-Headed Cobalt Adder and Randidly could only roll his eyes.

While Acri excitedly took care of the meat, Randidly prepared to handle the other supplies. He continued adding fire until the heat reached a point that was satisfactory to him. Then, slightly amused at what he was about to do, Randidly produced his Philosopher’s Key and opened a portal back to Kharon. Specifically, to a roof above the main market square.

For whatever reason, people loved open-air markets, weather permitting. So although the square had originally been meant as a junction for industrial transportation, the rise of Engraved platforms meant that it could be repurposed. In the last month, the area had bloomed from several shops with outdoor seating areas to the beating heart of the city’s merchants.

Randidly’s bare feet slapped against the shingled roof as he peered down toward the surging mass of people below. It was almost evening and most workers had just left their jobs and were either grabbing a bite to eat or gathering the ingredients to make dinner when they got home. As such, even the side streets and alleys around the wide market square were filled with squabbling and haggling. People had to shoulder past at least a half dozen discussions in order to find the product you wanted in the dense mess of hanging cookware, piles of fruit, and carefully displayed monster materials.

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It was enough that Randidly blinked downward at the sheer about of heat and noise that wafted upward from the square. The appetizing aroma of sizzling oil and freshly seared meat mixed with the scents of fruits and spices. Children rushed wildly around the legs of adults, earning a tirade of curses, but no real retaliation as the adults barely had space to twist and glare.

For a second, Randidly considered disguising himself so he could quickly and easily buy some supplies without being noticed. But considering his track record of disguises in the past… Randidly had to admit it likely would be a waste of time. Besides, there was an easier method.

Randidly hopped down off the roof, landing lightly onto the edge of the fountain in the center of the square. Basically, Randidly had no choice in this matter; it was the only location with even the slightest bit of room.

It took about ten seconds after his feet touched the edge of the stone fountain for the entire square to realize that Randidly Ghosthound had arrived. The people nearby seemed to be frozen stiff, likely due to the influence of the Nether nebula inside of him. The people further back stood on their tiptoes, trying to get a good look at them.

It was fascinating, sensing how the new arrivals they picked up in the Wildlands were quickly adapting to the general image of Kharon. It made Randidly proud. When he was sure he had their attention, Randidly smiled. “I’d like to buy some groceries. In large quantities. Who can help me?”

Very quickly a smiling man with a mustache stepped forward, bringing Randidly away from the crowded shops to the underground portion of the market where most of the ingredients were sold. The crowd parted instantly to create a wide path. Some people pressed themselves up again other people squished against brick walls in order to make room. Randidly’s eyes picked it all up, scanning back and forth.

At the same time, Randidly’s Grim Intuition could pick up that five other merchants were quietly arguing with each other over who should sell which of their wares to Randidly Ghosthound.

Their discussion was surprisingly intense. Part of it was for the achievement of having the Ghosthound patronize their start, part of it was for the profit of the transaction, but there was a significant portion of their discussion that focused on making sure Randidly received the best produce, which touched Randidly.

The underground market required Randidly to descend stairs into a low ceilinged space that seemed to have been built to be a warehouse but had been recently repurposed to form several long rows of tightly packed stalls that mirrored the square above. But whereas finished products were sold above, this was where the raw fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, cheeses, and spices were kept in bulk.

There were much fewer people here, and those that remained seemed to be related to the merchants who were discussing above. And those merchants hadn’t remained idle while they were haggling with each other.

It was also quite pleasant that, by the time Randidly walked down into the interior of the underground, the five merchants had come to a rapid agreement, hastily ordering their employees to set up a long table in the little bit of space available by the stairs. Upon that table, they set out two of everything, the best two of each individual ingredient picked from the warehouse of the five main merchants that had come together after Randidly had made his appearance.

And glancing at the array they had brought out before him, they hadn’t held anything back. But toward the piles of beautifully marbled meat that took up fully one half of the long table, Randidly waved his hand. “I’ve got meat already. But these things…”

The merchants’ faces fell as Randidly ignored the meat, which was probably the most expensive of the stuff on the table, but they quickly regained their cheerful dispositions as Randidly descended upon the other half of the table like the personification of a swarm of locusts.

Olives, aged parmesan cheese, specialty kinds of honey, asparagus florets, green and red peppers, a rich butter from domesticated minotaurs, ground cumin, cinnamon, and clove, a fragrant sweet potato that Randidly didn’t recognize but his nose informed him would be delicious, eggs that were a light red color, red wine that Randidly planned on using for cooking, and finally a flaky variety of biscuits that would go well with what Randidly had in mind…

The variety of his choices improved the moods of the merchants, but what made their jaws drop was when Randidly turned to them and began asking how much stock they had of the various things. When it came to the spices, Randidly wanted at least two pounds. For the vegetables and cheese, fifteen pounds each.

When it came to the biscuits, after ripping one in half and being delighted by how flaky and fragrant they were, he was essentially willing to buy their entire stock. With the sweep of his hand, Randidly took away his veritable banquet and provided them with some of the cash that Tatiana had the foresight to insist Randidly take a few days ago. Then he returned to his camp and prepared to make himself a meal.

Very quickly, he realized that his small fire likely wouldn’t be sufficient. So Randidly cracked his knuckles, produced some old metal from his interspatial ring and got to work. By the time Acri had dragged back the large corpse that would become the main dish, Randidly had two secondary fires and a rather large central bonfire positioned underneath a series of metal bars to make a primitive grill.

Acri impressed Randidly with its abilities as a butcher, rapidly bleeding the corpse and removing the rich meet of the snake while Randidly prepped the vegetables. Some of the biscuits were left next to the fire to warm. The asparagus and a handful of diced red peppers was tossed with salt, pepper, and oil and then left draped across the grill to cook. The sweet potatoes were sliced drizzled with honey and left over one of the smaller fires to roast.

The meat, of course, would eventually go into his new pan. But before that, Randidly rubbed the meat with the salt and pepper and let it sit for a while he cracked some eggs into a wooden bowl. After about five minutes, Randidly put the salted meat into the gooey egg innards and then tossed the sticky result into a mixture of cumin, pepper, clove, and enriched flour.

Only then was the two-headed snake meat ready for the pan, and it had Randidly salivating from the first sizzle.