Randidly finally felt the stiffness in his body was easing. His Nether Nebula was finally stabilized. Simultaneously, he experienced a profound sense of satisfaction that was difficult to describe. His Aether and Nether seeped gradually together through his body, becoming the fabric of his being. The process of physicalizing his images accelerated with both of the energies working together. Something was settling into place within him. It was as though the energies had been his invisible skeletal structure for the last several years and the new ambient level of Nether allowed his bones to finally becoming concrete.

He sat cross-legged, his palms touching the ground with his fingers splayed out around his hand. Originally this had been an expression of strain, yet now the position was perfectly comfortable. His muscles spasmed occasionally as they adapted to the changes occurring within Randidly's body, but otherwise, he was completely still. His breath was so soft coming in and out of his lips that it was possible to miss it, even with System enhanced senses.

In that deep darkness of the night right before dawn, Randidly felt strangely weightless. Or rather, he felt like the Earth beneath him could no longer influence him. As his body was filled with the significance, emotion, meaning, and connection of Aether and Nether, gravity's influence over him was steadily shattered. His body became the dominant force in the surrounding space.

Objects in orbit would be pulled toward him.

With the increased strength came understanding. And, of course, the more of that grey crystal in his chest that slowly deteriorated, the more disturbed Randidly became by his insights. First, he began to rethink his plot to absorb the weight of the finals. Because what the Nether did, structurally, in order to achieve the sensation of greater density was establish a network around and through his images.

Unlike his images, which could become true physicalizations through Aether, Nether instead provided a network of energy veins that ran between his various images. Perhaps obviously, this was the energy of connection and balance. But after he finally provided the elements of that connection, his physicalizations could become that much more concrete.

They were insubstantial, inky serpents hanging in the Soulspace between his images. They reminded Randidly of the blue veins of the Great Rift.

This new addition to his Soulspace resulted in two things, one very positive and another slightly disturbing. The positive thing was that Randidly experimented a bit, and the Nether veins made it significantly easier to utilize multiple Skills at once. The disturbing thing was that this ease of complex activations came because of a resonance and inexplicable, interconnected certainty that Randidly had seen in only one place before.

This Nether network he subconsciously built on himself displayed all the insubstantial and ambiguous traits of karma.

Which probably meant that karma Skills, and also his Philosopher's Key, relied on an equally giant Nether Network to function. Which was probably Elhume's Nether equivalent to the mountain range of crystalized Aether that Randidly had briefly encountered and by which he had been shattered.

For several seconds, Randidly considered how little he truly knew about the Nexus. His fingers flexed and dug into the grass-covered ground of his island. He released a sigh and lowered his head.

"The Pinnacle gets farther away every time I look at it, huh...?" He said quietly to himself as he considered his Soulspace. The small, half-built karmic network only existed between his images and the images of the people whose significance that he had used. It was as frail as a sagging spiderweb.

Yet there was an unexpected deviation from the typical Nether veins. The connections through that weak Nether network did find a small purchase outside of himself: in Alana Donal. Because he already had an Aether connection there, the veins had found a single support point outside of himself. And as he inspected the twining lines of Nether, Randidly suspected that at least half of the physical boost he felt came from this outside support. Studying it gave him quite a few ideas about how he could extend this network even further around himself.

But... should I really extend this karmic network... Randidly's eyes slowly opened. That would boost my strength, but it would put tethers of Nether in people who might not be able to withstand them. Someone of Alana's caliber would barely notice the addition... probably my other Aether connections could withstand it as well... but is that the sort of strength that I want...?

A strength built on the backs of others? Will I follow the Path of Lady Iellaya? No, of course not. My strength will be my own.

His emerald eyes flashed as Randidly recalled the Nether King in the sky above Earth, with enough clout to attack the Seventh Cohort directly. The power displayed there had been entirely within the hands of the Nether King. Rather than being raised to that capability based on support from others, an almost chemical reaction had occurred within the Nether King that Randidly didn't understand. It was somewhat akin to a caveman viewing the inner workings of a nuclear reactor.

It might be impossible for him as a human to replicate that feat, but Randidly certainly wanted to make an attempt before he borrowed power from outside sources.

And with that thought, Randidly gently reached out and plucked the thread of Nether he had subconsciously woven between Alana and himself. The spectral tether wriggled in his fingers for a bit before deteriorating. Instantly, he felt some of that sense of gravitational immunity fade. It wasn't that the physical gains had evaporated, but the leverage that Randidly could wield was lost. He was once more just one body, trying its best to rival the power of the System.

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"And that's why it's fun," Randidly grinned. He flexed his hands and stood. He pulled out the Philosopher's Key and opened a portal to a deserted ravine in the Nordawn Mountain Range. Once he was there, he stretched his arms wide and released the tight cap on his images that he had studiously been maintaining while the other individuals in the tournament were training and fighting. Which, he reflected, might have been pointless; it did not seem Earthlings absorbed the images of others in the same way as Tellus.

But occasional self-denial was always a productive exercise. Whether it was the new veins of Nether running through his physical images or it was due to the strain of suppressing himself, his images now roared out and instantly began to warp the surrounding space. Even the darkness of the valley seemed to quiver in some instinctual warning. Randidly's smile widened.

Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold. The Inscrutable Mien of Genesis. All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth.

The three Skills activated smoothly, giving Randidly an unprecedented sense of insight into his own strengths as he reached for a world where he found a superior method of utilizing Nether. The thin support veins he had recently obtained fed the intellectual and spiritual strain between the three images, balancing them precariously together. Perhaps All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth would normally have difficulty grappling with seeking an answer in regards to Nether, but the purple-black revelation energy and the harsh light of Genesis spoke of impossible new beginnings. Those two sources of light were like traffic controllers walking behind the heaving machinery of the Grim Chimera’s ultimate Skill, guiding it safely into the sky.

Congratulations! All Things Succumb, Yet TIme Whirls the Earth (M) has grown to Level 204!

Soon there were two Randidlys making different attempts to solve this problem. Nether seethed in the two duplicated Nether Nebulas. The ground around Randidly’s physical body shuddered and then sharply cracked. Then there were four-

Congratulations! All Things Succumb, Yet TIme Whirls the Earth (M) has grown to Level 205!

...

Congratulations! All Things Succumb, Yet TIme Whirls the Earth (M) has grown to Level 229!

The strain was immense. It was only ponderously that the Skill chugged forward, creating eight Randidly’s experimenting with Nether-

And just like that, the three Skills collapsed painfully, twisting Randidly's smile into a grimace. Those spatial distortions in the surrounding area were snuffed out like candle flames pinched by cold fingers. Peace returned to the dark valley, marred only by the cracks in the ground directly beneath him. Randidly chuckled and rubbed the side of his head to ease the throbbing headache. "Well, it's easier, but it's still not easy..."

Truthfully, the combination of Skills he had tried had been quite ambitious. All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth was a Skill that Randidly still didn't have complete control over. The Grim Chimera had a thread of Nether in it that meant that the activation was closer to a prayer than it was a predictable process. Adding other Skills into the mix increased the cost of fueling the Skill exponentially.

He hadn't kept the Skill active for long enough to have an effective answer, but it did occur to Randidly that it might be useful to talk to some people who were involved in weaving mundane materials while he was still on Earth. He had been rather busy practicing weaving with Nether, but it couldn't hurt to have some actual experience as a base.

But that can wait for later. For now...

Yggdrasil spread its leafy branches over Randidly’s head to begin the steady erosion of the headache that had taken root in his temples. Waves of calming energy flowed up through the Earth and then through Yggdrasil’s pulsing golden roots. The leaves rustled, releasing a relaxing noise. Randidly stood and stretched, allowing the soft and invisible radiation of his image to soak into his skin.

Congratulations! Your Skill The Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 231!

As the pain eased, Randidly could gradually focus on the small details of his image around him. He stood with his eyes closed in the shadowy valley and felt the golden roots tracing the edges of the stony ground and squirming their way to complete domination of the area. Even in darkness, the leaves were almost luminously vibrant with life. Yggdrasil became the center of an ecosystem of energy, spurring the entire valley toward new growth.

Randidly hummed as he observed the way energy cycled through the Earth and sky through the branches, roots, and trunk of the World Tree. Then that energy became a part of the winding inscriptions and radiated back outward, richer and more potent. It sank into the ground and clouds and enriched the surroundings. Yggdrasil became a natural filter for energy in a way that made him smile. Randidly allowed the process to continue, his attention turning to the details of his image.

He adjusted the shape and noise of the leaves. His consciousness followed the slender stems of the leaves as they stretched outward from the branches. Randidly carefully heightened the rough surface of Yggdrasil’s bark. He wove the growth and joy he had tasted during the tournament into the radiated energy.

More than just filtering energy, he added the slightest hint of that amorphous human concept of ‘home’.

Detail by detail, Randidly continued to work toward an image that could match the monsters he had met from the Nexus. Yggdrasil’s branches stretched high up into the air, seeming to hold up the shadow that covered the entire valley. Dawn still dithered, allowing Randidly to continue without rest.

Releasing a breath, Randidly moved on to the Grim Chimera. As he focused on this other image, the musculature along his body flexed and shifted. Perhaps due to the new additions of the Nether veins running through his image body, the physical manifestation had intensified.

As Randidly became the Grim Chimera, he felt the limbs of his arms and legs crack and shift. Gritting his teeth, he endured the pain as his limbs lengthened and thickened. Tremors continued to run through his torso as small adjustments were made. Organs were rearranged. By the end of it, Randidly was hunched over slightly, with his newly elongated left arm reaching the ground. With his bone spear of a right arm, he drew small circles on the ground.

The two tails Randidly possessed lengthened as well, the lower tail thickening significantly as well. In the past, he could have used it like a whip, but now the tightly interlocking segments of bone could smash as well as they could cut. He took a tentative step forward and marveled at the way it naturally flicked to the side to keep him balanced.

Yet the most striking change was his breath. When Randidly breathed out, a semi-luminous fog flowed out between his lips. In the dark valley, his new breath immediately illuminated the cracked and warped surroundings with a sickly glow. Like a broken glow stick, the light of his breath slowly faded into nothing. But for a few seconds, the wicked curl of the Grim Chimera’s smile was visible to anyone watching.