Derek Moss scratched his cheek and did his best to phrase his objection delicately. “Aren’t we technically also applicants to the Order Ducis?”

Naffur just shrugged, summarily vanquishing Derek’s concern. Although the leader of the Order Ducis’s reassuringly solid aura helped mask his age, sometimes it was impossible to hide how youthful his features were. Standing now, away from the rest of the Order Ducis applicants that milled around the training area, Naffur dropped most of the official, stern expression that he generally carried and spoke candidly. “Technically, you are right. But two of the slots in the next batch are reserved for you and Hydie. So we figured you would have extra insight to help choose the other five people who would join. Congratulations.”

“Lucky us,” Hydie grumbled. Then she stifled a yawn and capped the gesture by chugging the rest of her coffee. They were standing in one of the staging bays of Kharon as the city walked steadily South. The sun hadn’t yet risen, so the air still had the grainy texture of twilight as it filtered through the open passage out into the world.

Rather than taking offense at Hydie’s comment, Naffur just grinned. His whole face lit up with the useful charm that meant he would likely lead the Order Ducis for a long time. “Yea, well, blame yourselves for being too efficient at your tasks. If you keep doing the things we ask we are going to keep coming up with jobs for you. There are thirty people who persevered to this point among the applicants, although you’ll notice that there is a pretty clear hierarchy amongst them. Just take the group and clear out some of the denser monster populations in the area. The Levels are in the high 60s around here, so you should be able to get a good picture of their actual strength.”

“If I may?” Hydie raised her hand. She had a little bit of coffee sticking to her upper lip. Naffur blinked but nodded. Hydie pointed over at Derek. “I assure you that he is the one who is responsible for our efficiency. If anything, I’ve routinely encumbered our activities. So I think it’s for the best that I sit this one out, lest the process be negatively affected.”

“No.” Naffur responded. Then with a sly grin, he walked away.

I guess that’s that, Derek thought wryly.

Derek walked over and patted Hydie’s shoulder. “Keep trying. Someday you’ll be as good at avoiding work as you want to be. Why do you want to skip out on this one anyway? After patrolling through Kharon for so long, it will be good to get out and just hunt some monsters. Plus, you can try out your new image on some targets you won’t feel much pity for.”

“Yea, yea.” Hydie waved her hand then quickly pulled it back to her chest. Immediately after, she sighed. “It’s just… well, I haven’t… this is embarrassing to admit. But it’s been a while since I’ve… painted my nails. I set out all my bottles for ease of selection, so I don’t have any in my interspatial ring. And my fingers look ragged right now; I was in too much of a hurry this morning!”

Derek turned away and shook his head. “Well, seems like we are ready to depart then…”

Hydie huffed out a breath.

*****

Once Randidly discovered and refined the image of a burning ember of a planet as the core of the Grim Chimera’s image, his attention moved on to another Skill: Molten Fang of the Pariah.

Congratulations! Your Skill Molten Fang of the Pariah (L) has grown to Level 241!

That heat source was exactly what Randidly needed to boost the raw destructive might of the Skill. With the average temperature across his body rising about thirty degrees with the shift in his image, his right arm was practically glowing with heat as the new notes were added to the Skill. But it wasn’t just the heat that made the attack powerful; since the source of the flame was a dying world, there was a horrible caustic quality to the fire in the Grim Chimera’s chest. It struck both the wielder and target, but the Grim Chimera had spent its entire existence accepting that horrible energy source.

It was a flame that released the acrid tang of ashes and sweat. The radiating illumination gradually tainted the Grim Chimera, darkening and warping it to its current form.

Gradually, Randidly’s thoughts on how the Grim Chimera grew so twisted were solidified. The details of the images, while still remaining weak, grew clearer. In his mind; that ambiguous cloudiness was banished. But with that clarity came some rigidity. So Randidly threw himself with even more dedication into the spars against Kaan Swacc. He pushed his limits without restraint.

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Congratulations! Your Skill Molten Fang of the Pariah (L) has grown to Level 242!

The added offensive power of the revamped Molten Fang meant that Kaan Swacc couldn’t be as aggressive in his attacks on Randidly, so the brawls stretched out into extended slugfests. If Randidly were genuinely trying to improve his ability to defeat Kaan Swacc, he might have experienced a small amount of despair at the repeated slow losses. He was making progress, but none of it seemed to affect the outcome.

But Randidly didn’t need to win here; he already had. In fact, he relished the extended fights. Even as his body and image began to fray at the edges from the strain, his Skill Levels and his conclusions about the image of the Grim Chimera began to accumulate toward a complete transformation. The brutal impacts and desperation of the confrontation against Kaan Swacc were pushing him to greater heights.

However, soon Randidly had utilized the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night so often for so long that he had a constant low headache. The fights were lasting for longer and longer as his Skill Levels improved, which increased the strain of deviation from the memory. Yet Randidly didn’t relent in his dedication. One day of mind grinding training became two, and then three. The headache became a constant, pounding resident in his cerebral cortex that sapped Randidly’s high brain function and left him with only instinct. The improvements to the various details of his Skill usage gradually slowed as he ran out of mental juice.

But he didn’t mind. In the haze of pain and fighting, Randidly was looking for the grand spirit at the core of his images. Others might hesitate to wander into such a deep mist of exertion to find an answer, but Randidly was confident in the choice; he knew that the spirit of the Grim Chimera was an enormous, grand thing. It could stand toe to toe with his other images.

Even through the haze, it would be so profound that he would recognize it instantly when he felt it. So he wandered forward in near blindness, fighting and struggling, waiting for that epiphany.

Or at least, that is what he told the part of himself most closely associated with Yggdrasil, which was watching the training process with increasing alarm. But Randidly had carefully arranged this week so he would have several days in a row to train without any interruption. He had a meeting with Tatiana Saturday morning and a dinner with Donny Saturday night.

Otherwise, the week was free. He could be as bleary and battle crazed as he wished.

Randidly allowed himself a bit more rest time between the matches as his exhaustion deepened, but he continued to keep himself in that drained state. As his mind for details continued to be eroded, his fighting style expanded to include the other Grim Chimera Skills. Reaper’s Mantle of Catastrophe filled the surrounding air with the bitter ashes of the world ember of the Grim Chimera carried, greatly weakening their images.

Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes continued to be an aggressive explosion of straight-line momentum that enabled Randidly to cross the distance to Kaan Swacc, but now it carried a vague emotional component. As the Grim Chimera exploded into motion, it briefly was filled with an all-consuming desire for revenge. At first, the sudden fury surging through his veins confused Randidly, but he gradually understood that the source was the ember; not that the energy source possessed by the Grim Chimera was sentient, but it did carry with it a deep yearning for revenge against the Cataclysm that had sundered it.

That emotion was so potent that it was willing to direct it at any poor sap who stood in the ember’s way.

His chest heaving as he faced off against Kaan Swacc, Randidly flexed his fingers with such violence that the joints of his fingers popped and cracked. On this, I can get behind you. That’s why I refuse to stop improving. So that one day… I can hold the Nexus accountable for all the lives it has devoured. Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes.

Congratulations! Your Skill Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes (L) has grown to Level 219!

Congratulations! Your Skill Man is Proud, But the Chimera Takes (L) has grown to Level 220!

Randidly also enjoyed the usage of The Chimera Weeps, But Man Mourns, which allowed him to release a veritable wave of lightning-fast spear thrusts in the surrounding area. Each individual attack was relatively weak, but the sudden burst allowed him to both deflect Kaan’s pyramids while scouring small scratches across his metallic body. With one more tool being refined for the new shape of the Grim Chimera, he was able to hold his own against Kaan Swacc for even longer, stubbornly enduring the Xyrt Brigade representative’s ability to suppress images.

At this point, even the Nether Suppression Cell was of limited usefulness against Randidly. Nether was steadily becoming a larger part of who he was, sure, but without his conscious direction, it mostly functioned as an anchor that allowed more of his images to physically condense on his body. Those benefits might fade eventually if Randidly was kept in the Suppression Cell for long enough, but it wouldn’t happen over the course of a brief spar.

Soon, all of his Grim Chimera Skills began to accumulate Skill Levels at an extremely fast pace. The constant usage plus the newfound image of the world ember became the catalyst for immense change in the Grim Chimera. Aside from, of course, the final Skill of the Descent of the Grim Chimera Skillset. Especially while exhausted and drained, Randidly knew that the Skill All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth would require some individual attention that he couldn’t yet give it. Without proper time and attention, he wouldn’t dare use it.

So he continued to fight and struggle. Wednesday turned into Thursday, and then Friday. Day and night passed without Randidly even noticing. His bloodshot eyes grew almost glazed to time’s passage, fixed on the memory of Kaan Swacc. Between the matches, he sat and meditated, trying his best to recover his mental energy with only Abomination’s Grim Vigor serving as the source of the healing.

For now, he was entirely the Grim Chimera. A Grim Chimera that he was steadily rediscovering within himself.