Although he had been confident earlier that the Special Investigator couldn’t detect the change in the mines after Randidly had lucked into the process of rendering them inert, it wasn’t until an hour passed that Randidly could truly release a sigh of relief. Some of the tension in his shoulders relaxed. At this point, if Kaan Swacc hadn’t shown up to suppress him, he likely wouldn’t.

Finally, Randidly had an edge.

Still, Randidly supposed there was a chance Kaan might check in on him and realize something was wrong at any point, so he shouldn’t completely slacken his guard. But after an hour of recovery, Randidly’s body had gradually settled back into place. His heartbeat returned to normal, but Randidly somehow knew that the baptism of polarity he had just experienced had greatly increased his physical powers.

Each beat sounded like the result of a well-made drum; his heart was a sonorous and reassuring presence.

Due to that shift, it had taken him only an hour to recover from the physical and mental strain of dealing with the Aether Mines that might have required a nap from Randidly in the past. Sensing that his already monstrous recovery had taken another step further toward ridiculousness, Randidly could only shake his head. I can feel the difference in the Yggdrasil image especially. Now that my body has so much natural health, its much easier to create a powerful image of Vitality… its practically overflowing into the surrounding area…

Randidly glanced around at the surrounding space on his floating island. Because night had fallen, very little light was filtering through the silver mist. Randidly could basically ignore the darkness because of his Grim Intuition, but his island was shrouded in heavy shadows. Or at least, it used to be.

While Randidly had been laying still and recovering, a strange vine had started to grow in the area around him. It was still small and thin, but Randidly could see it slithering outward like a snake. Along the thin vine, faintly glowing lilac buds had formed. They didn’t release a lot of light, but with the island shrouded by mist, the little light that it could produce carried well.

That light softened the surrounding shadows into something fantastical, rather than revealing it for the empty land that it currently was.

Shaking his head, Randidly inwardly criticized the vines for growing near to his position, because what came next would be rather destructive. But he wasn’t going to hesitate for a vine, especially considering how quickly it had just grown. Now, with the Aether Mines dealt with and his body better than ever, Randidly focused on the strange veil that limited him.

With a little bit of focus, Randidly tensed and relaxed his body to push his heart rate upward. As he did so and the potential power contained in his body grew, the veil slowly became detectable in front of him.

It was a light, barely detectable curtain that hung around him. It was a ripple in the air that looked light distortions from heat, only uniformly spread around his body. If he didn’t focus on the barrier, the limit quickly disappeared from his vision. But as he slowly gathered potential energy into his muscles, the veil grew ever more tangible.

It fluttered around Randidly as he shifted and walked around while observing the way it changed to follow his motions. Small movements didn’t bring Randidly any closer to it, but he was interested in how close it now appeared to him.

Honestly, he couldn’t make much sense of the difference in perspective. Breaking through the veil over and over again might weaken it, but what Randidly didn’t understand was why each attempt made it easier to break through the mental limitation. Or more specifically, why the mental limit that Randidly had for himself was growing weaker rather than stronger.

Because while the first attempt had required him driving his heart up toward the limit, subsequent attempts required much less.

Frowning, Randidly tapped his lips. Looks like I was wrong about the source. This isn’t coming from me… otherwise, it would make no sense for me to have a lowered limit for myself after feeling myself grow more powerful. If it isn’t from me… it’s probably from the System then. But there is only one way to find out for sure.

Flexing his fingers, Randidly grinned. Then his arm exploded into motion, shooting forward with his fingers rigidly pointed like a falcon’s claw. His heart continued to beat at its new normal pace, heating his body but not to the point that his skin was red or he was steaming. The Talon Strike was a completely normal effort, although it was sharp enough to earn him a Skill Level.

Congratulations! Your Skill Talon Strike has grown to Level 136!

With just that casual motion, Randidly’s fingers encountered the shifting veil of limitations and ripped right through it. As soon as he pierced through it, the force contained in his strike exploded forward in a tight spiral, stretching out beyond the end of the attack. The momentum blew a huge hole in the shimmering silver mist of Randidly’s island and pierced through the sky. Randidly followed it for a bit with his Grim Intuition. He could see it impact a cloud and disperse in a wave of billowing water vapor, but then he lost sight of the force he produced in the distance.

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Releasing a breath, Randidly pulled back his hand and looked at it. Without the distraction of the Aether Mines, it was easier to understand the information from his body. Or perhaps it was better to say that after the baptism of polarity, Randidly’s understanding of his body reached a new height.

Either way, what Randidly had felt when he unleashed the Talon Strike was… strange. And it made him realize he should have noticed the strangeness of this limit long ago. Because after he broke through it, before the veil of the limit could capture him once more, he experienced a period of boosted strength and speed.

Beyond the limit, Randidly had been able to throw himself a half mile directly upward with a leg spasm. When he threw that Talon Strike, the core of force had stayed together for a similar distance without Randidly focusing it at all with an image. It spoke to a monstrous amount of physical power. Power that Randidly believed he deserved to wield, all things considered, but it made him reconsider the role of the veil.

There must be some suppressing effect while I’m still within the veil. Randidly frowned down at his hand. It isn’t just that I don’t think I deserve to go to the other side… the veil makes it more difficult to approach that limit… and when I breakthrough, all the force that is denied to me now is returned. If it truly is from the System, then it’s unlikely this is a mistake…

Randidly began to develop a theory on what the System was doing, but he set it aside for now. An answer was laying at the end of this Path either way. Might as well begin walking.

Instead of thinking, he began stretching his body. After transitioning into a few balancing exercises, Randidly conjured the image of the Stillborn Phoenix to float in the around him. Mist was blasted away as that dark sphere floated above Randidly. It spread its black wings, pulling all the warmth and light from the surrounding space. Black and dark purple energy seeped out of Randidly’s skin until he was entirely covered with it.

Then he took a fighting stance.

Congratulations! Your Skill Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) has grown to Level 273!

From stillness, Randidly exploded into motion. Each strike blasted outward, and if it didn’t tear directly through the limiting veil, it brushed against its edge. Relying on his recently acquired Cosmic Necessity, Randidly began seriously pushing his heart rate upward with repeated combinations of brutal attacks. Soon his ears were filled with the echoing thumps of the greatest muscle his body possessed.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cosmic Necessity (M) has grown to Level 225!

Randidly’s Grim Intuition carefully kept track of the situation in his body. He felt that explosive force fill his limbs every time he ripped through the veil. He felt the way the barrier itself shifted, slowly creeping closer. His limbs cut and sliced through the air, releasing huge waves of force. The silver mist around Randidly’s island was consistently blasted away, only to stubbornly gather up once more.

The ground shook. Cracks spread outward across his island. Embarassing as it was, he suspected that the people of Kharon could likely hear this training as well.

Randidly said a silent prayer for that vine that chose exactly the wrong time to grow around him as he stomped his foot and the island shuddered beneath him. Then he exploded forward, ripping through the veil. In that split second of liberated physical power, Randidly engaged in a series of tight steps back and forth, changing his direction and momentum with an almost impossible amount of quickness.

His weaving steps were so quick that he left after images in his wake. The joints of his legs screamed in protest, but Randidly ignored them. He was a little rusty, but this amount of movement wouldn’t be dangerous.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cosmic Necessity (M) has grown to Level 226!

At this point, the spectral veil was pressing against Randidly’s skin. It was barely holding on underneath the force of his constant assaults. Chuckling to himself, Randidly accelerated forward. Once, twice, three times… Randidly ripped the veil to pieces, gradually feeling the physical power he could wield beyond that veil becoming his.

Perhaps the twentieth time ripping through the veil after Randidly felt it press up against him, something changed. The veil began to rip more seriously. With a few more powerful moves, Randidly had torn it entirely in half. The hovering bits of spectral binding dissipated.

Even as the mastery of the physical power that Randidly had waited for came to him, so too did a notification.

Warning! The Path you tread is not the one desired from the System. Images are the true source of power. As such, it is encouraged that you proceed to the nearest Village and have your physical manifestation construct repaired. This will result in some slight differences in your base physical parameters than you would expect, but it is for your own safety.

Warning! Failure to repair your physical manifestation construct within six hours will be considered a forfeiture of your rights to System provided energy. As such, all sources of System energy that you currently have access to will be cut off. Considering the physical strength required to reach this point, this will swiftly lead to your sickness and death.

Due to your actions, you have unlocked the Path Deathwish I 0/1!

“Physical Manifestation Construct, huh…? So it was true…” Randidly allowed the image of the Stillborn Phoenix to fade. He rolled his neck from side to side, earning himself some satisfying cracks in the process. Then he looked at the notifications with bright eyes, still wreathed in the Revelation energy. “That veil I felt wasn’t a mental imitation from me… but it was a limit placed there by the System.

“Rather than them trying to keep people weak…” The corner of Randidly’s mouth twitched as he read through the notification once again. “...it sorta just seems like they don’t want to pay the Aether to create warriors with powerful bodies…”