Randidly’s heart began to pound heavily as the three images stirred in the air around him. As one, the images were pulled inward, sinking through Randidly’s skin. The pounding of his heart accelerated. The moonlight spirits swirled excitedly, following the chaotic flows of his energy. Each image began to vibrate as the intensity of the movements rose upward. Now that Randidly had addressed each of the images directly, he could feel their flavors and depth all the more clearly.

These were the building blocks of who he, Randidly Ghosthound, was. They had always been a part of him. It was just a matter of reminding them of how that connection could be a physical thing.

His heart darkened and warped, turning brown and rutted like tree bark. His veins slowly began to glow pure gold as energy pumped through his entire body. His black hair gradually lightened, turning into a green color.

He was Yggdrasil, the World Tree, a source of constant growth and protection for the world.

Randidly’s left eye lost its emerald shine, darkening to pitch blackness. The surrounding light turned almost liquid, flowing around his eye socket like it was a location where a plug in the world had been removed and now drained everything away. His gaze became baleful and chill.

He was the Stillborn Phoenix, the Egg of Depression, carrying the emotions of many who cursed Fate.

The skin of Randidly’s right hand and his bare feet darkened to a corroded grey. Around his torso, the skin turned translucent, revealing the shimmering golden veins within him. More than that, two tails flicked back and forth, testing the air. One at Randidly’s waist and another coming from the base of his neck.

He was the Grim Chimera, he who persisted and endured, seeking to find his own path in the universe.

Growth. Revenge. Survival. Randidly whispered to himself. His three images manifested further, spreading their potent aura into the surrounding air. His island hummed with the presence of Randidly Ghosthound. His energy sunk into the ground beneath him. The surrounding moonlight spirits swirled faster and faster, a great whirlwind below with a sea of stars shining above.

Slowly, Randidly moved. The step was a somewhat awkward one because one of the great advantages of manifesting the image outside of oneself was the ability to manipulate the image freely. Even with one image and his body to manage, Randidly would have been relatively confident in his movements. But to keep three images straight, separate, and balanced, while also manipulating his physical body pushed even Randidly’s prodigious amount of Control.

He took a step. Then he took another. He raised his hands, one metal and one flesh, both swimming in his images. But Randidly frowned as he looked down at his hands; the lines of light on his metallic left hand flickered, another manifestation of the weakness it had developed fighting against the Nether Gatekeeper.

Still holding out for now, but I’ll need to take care of it soon… Randidly breathed out through his nose and raised his gaze from his left hand. Then he shook his head and began to move slowly through some basic fighting forms.

Congratulations! Your Skill Visualization (R) has grown to Level 290!

Other struggles aside, this new method of blending the images directly with Randidly’s body had seen a jumpstart in his Visualization Skill Level. In addition, having the three images brush up against each other had pointed out the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. After every practice session, Randidly would spend some time focusing on improving small imperfections in his images that he had identified. Most of them had been within the Stillborn Phoenix, but Randidly was rather pleased to have been inspired in a few small ways to improve his other two images.

It was night and Randidly continued for almost an hour to smoothly move while maintaining the balance between the three images. As he grew more proficient with basic movements, he began to activate his various Skills.

THIS was where the problems began. Because when Randidly activated Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil, his Yggdrasil image that he held within himself naturally grew more powerful. Which quickly began to destabilize the carefully maintained balance, requiring a split second of concentration in order to rectify.

In battle, that would be a split second that Randidly couldn’t afford.

But Randidly didn’t worry about it too much, at least for the short term. Even without being able to see the tangible benefits of the power Randidly could wield with the three images united in his body, because he essentially was just casually moving as he developed his ‘balance’, the constant refinement of his images was incredibly valuable. And each time he activated a Skill while practicing, he activated it much more purposefully than he had in the past. He had to; otherwise everything he was trying to juggle would just collapse into a burst of wasted mental energy.

Congratulations! Your Skill Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 269!

After only twenty minutes, the effort of practicing caused drops of sweat to form on his brow. Sighing, Randidly released his three images. The changes to his body faded, but Randidly didn’t miss how they lingered for a few seconds after he released his images. Just dissipating vestiges for now, but if he did this for long enough…

Randidly looked again down at his hands. “Definitely a useful Path. But if I slowly transform into something that doesn’t resemble a human… am I fine with that…?”

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Eventually, Randidly nodded with certainty. If the cost of power was that his physical form truly began to change, that was something that he could live with. But even if things proceed to that point, Randidly supposed he could develop an image that was of what it meant to be a human. Or, if he was even more lazy, he could just ask Neveah for some tips regarding illusions. If she managed to hide her identity as a Bone Wyrm behind a veil, Randidly figured his mostly aesthetic changes could be easily masked.

Mentally exhausted from the exercise, Randidly lay on the ground and looked up at the stars. His moonlight spirits around him ceased their rotation and began to flood down around Randidly. They were careful not to block his view of the sky, but their sheer number made the radiance they released blinding. It was like a veritable swarm of fireflies trying to sneak up on you. Maybe one or two could have done it, but this many…

He couldn’t help but chuckle and spread his hands outward. Quickly realizing what he wanted, the moonlight spirits surged forward in a wave. They immersed his body and lightly picked up him. Each was cool against Randidly’s skin. They buoyed him away in silver light and Randidly allowed himself to relax for a while.

But eventually, the rest had to end.

Randidly snorted and shook his head as the moonlight spirits sensed his intensions and set him down. He had already gathered Heiffal’s group and stored them within his Alpha Cosmos. Within the next six hours or so, the Xyrt Brigade should arrive on Earth. The darkness in the night sky that was the Nether incursion, hanging like the shadowy brother of the moon in the night sky, had not launched any more probing strikes against the Earth. Instead, its efforts to break through the Cohort’s defenses had intensified.

Closely studying the methodology of Nether assault might have given Randidly some inspiration, but whenever he looked up at the Nether, he felt a deep sense of foreboding and that caused his instincts to prickle unpleasantly. Perhaps he remembered too distinctly the power of the Nether King he had seen on the frontlines. As the intensity of the Nether’s attacks increased, the more Randidly was reminded of that terrible dread that he felt when the Nether King had looked toward him.

It had been an absolute monster, even partially bound.

Yet the flows of Nether above the Earth now were even more profound and deep than Randidly had remembered. This was a Nether King that had the capital to assault the System.

Randidly closed his eyes to prevent himself from fixating too much on the Nether above him, however. He had already wasted more than enough time worrying about what was going to happen. It was much better to work on what he could, while he could. So he sent a mental message to Neveah, asking her how her research on living Engraving was going.

Ugh, don’t remind me. Neveah grumbled. Through their connection, Randidly could feel that Neveah was just as mentally exhausted as Randidly was, albeit for different reasons. I’m about three-fourths of the way through Yystrix’s material on that subject, but for the past two days I’ve just been banging my head against a brick wall… and my maid has been so moody recently… I just can’t seem to figure out how to proceed.

Randidly sent Neveah a mental shrug. It should be enough to improve the current arm though, correct?

Oh definitely, came Neveah’s confident reply. But using only 76% of her knowledge… isn’t that a waste…? If we could just reach 80%... I hear in your Earth terms, that percentage a B, which is only slightly above average. To accept a C… I don’t think that’s an intelligent move.

Randidly wondered idly where Neveah had learned about the grading habits on old Earth. True, but it’s better we work with something we are confident of doing than try and push the envelope. Besides, we have a timelimit-

Then you better get started going through my impressions and notes, Neveah said with a mental smirk. Sure, I’ll do the actual Engraving, but you’ll be the one manipulating the new arm you make. And without at least making it 60% through Yystrix’s stuff, I don’t know if you will be able to manage it… plus, won’t you have to make a harder alloy for your arm…?

Randidly felt his mood rapidly souring, but he couldn’t deny that Neveah was right. There was quite a bit for him to do. After only a few minutes of rest, Randidly hadn’t recovered much of his mental strength, but he was already itching to turn to a new task.

And Tatiana hasn’t even sent up the work that she wants me to accomplish before I leave… Randidly though rather bleakly. Neveah laughed at him but sent over a bundle of her memories pertaining to the Living Engraving process. Sighing, Randidly set them within his Soul space and stood up. He rolled his shoulders and stretched some.

Not really because he needed to avoid stiffness, but because it helped elevate his heart rate and gave him some additional prep time before another mental task. Truly, the number of training Randidly had that required his mental energy was exhausting…

But before he could throw himself into the process of studying living Engraving, there was a ripple on his island. Randidly’s emerald eyes narrowed. A magical array was beginning to form in front of him. After studying it for a second, he recognized it; it was the portal ability utilized by the Winged Serpent.

Sure enough, after another thirty seconds, the portal was established and two figures walked through to the other side. The first was the Winged Serpent, but Randidly was surprised to see that the second was Thea Glasshammer. He had briefly seen the young woman at both the stadium and at his birthday, but Randidly had been focused on other things at the time. His impression of Thea hadn’t been that strong.

Looking at her now, it was clear that her time as a Nemesai hadn’t been kind to her. Her shoulders were tense and rounded as if she constantly feared an attack. The skin around her eyes was red and irritated, as though she hadn’t had a good night's sleep in months. Her hammer at her side was crusted with dirt and blood. But Randidly supposed that made sense; due to his influence, the Earth had a large image advantage over normal planets. It was almost impossible for the Nemesai to have an easy time operating.

But the real worry was Thea’s image. With one glance, Randidly saw how far fear, anger, and envy had corrupted the core of who she had been.

For now, Randidly didn’t address it. He turned to the Winged Serpent. “Why have you come?”

“To honor our agreement. Or rather, to take you up on your offer.” The Winged Serpent hissed as it floated forward. “We agree to stop our efforts to make the Earth fail the Calamities… in exchange for your assistance in protecting our worlds. And as a show of good faith, we have brought you the weapon given to the Nemesai when a planet proceeds toward the Calamities.”

A small baton appeared in front of the Winged Serpent, floating in the air on top of another magic circle.