After staying in that dark hollow for some time with his images acting at full capacity, Randidly realized that Octavius had been right. There was some very mild time distortion present down here due to the thick Aether, which meant that while Randidly spent time here training, less time passed above in the Nexus proper.
Which just resolved Randidly to go deeper into this well next time, but for the moment, he was thoroughly benefiting from his time down here. Yggdrasil had stabilized in the surrounding area, churning rapidly through the raw Aether that was radiating upward from the depths of the Nexus. The Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil had been steadily gaining Skill Levels as it separated the emotion from the energy present. Plus, once Yggdrasil caught up with the Stillborn Phoenix’s demand, it used some of its extra potency to normalize the chaotic Aether that it was processing anyway.
The result was a much more palatable stream of Aether heading upward. Randidly raised his head and grinned. Compared to the total volume of energy flowing here, I am only affecting about one-fifth of it… Perhaps as Yggdrasil gets stronger, I’d be able to cleanse all of it… But for now, a small positive side effect of my training, which is quite rare…
Honestly, I usually destroy or poison the surroundings… I guess this just goes to show that the Nexus operates on entirely another tier...
In fact, Randidly had an ulterior motive for allowing the purification: He had felt a subtle shift in Yggdrasil as it took on this new task. The exertion was different enough from what Yggdrasil usually did that he sensed that the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis could move toward a more purifying effect in the future. Randidly allowed the gradual shift for now while he considered the long term consequences of such a change.
Congratulations! Your Skill the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis (M) has grown to Level 269!
Meanwhile, Randidly’s body was steadily being covered with dark grey scales. The Grim Chimera assumed almost complete control of Randidly’s body while the two other images focused on the ambient energy. Rather than trying to access or utilize the Aether, the Grim Chimera simply stood by and allowed the rapid flows of energy to temper its body.
In this case, that tempering involved his exterior muscles and skin gradually toughening beneath the onslaught of energy. It was an intermediary step in pushing the Grim Chimera to the next level. This process was helping, but Randidly sensed that he was still missing something to complete the transformation.
Finally, the Stillborn Phoenix continued to devour the emotion that Yggdrasil purified for it. Luckily, its hunger wasn’t actually infinite. At the volume of one-fifth of the ambient energy in the massive hollow spine of the Nexus, the Stillborn Phoenix couldn’t handle anymore. So the egg of darkness just sat there and happily devoured more and more ambient emotion at a constant, if massive, rate. The change for this image, too, still seemed a bit away, but it helped familiarize Randidly with the details of the Stillborn Phoenix.
It was a strange, broken phenomenon that dreamed of being a living phoenix.
Meanwhile, a small part of Randidly was intently watching for changes in his Nether Nebula. As Octavius had said, the deeper he had gone down here, the more the System restriction on Nether had loosened. At his current depth, there was about double the amount of Nether present than there had been on Earth. Which certainly allowed him to loosen the tight spiral he maintained within his own Nether Nebula and relax a bit.
But Randidly found that if he let his Nether stray too far from him, it was sucked down to the waiting hell below. Which made him regard the abyss quite solemnly. He licked his lips. “Someday… someday I’ll have to see how deeply I can safely go. If I can strengthen my mental defenses… I’d like to see the way Nether is orchestrated at the core of the Nexus…”
For the moment, it mostly functioned as an extra bit of strain to help him train his control over Nether, which was certainly worth the trip.
Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 307!
So Randidly lost himself in the familiar rhythms of training. Yggdrasil steadily stretched outside of its comfort zone. The Grim Chimera steadily resisted the churn of energy and evolved into a scaly chrysalis form. The Stillborn Phoenix continued to engorge itself on the lingering emotions from the images that were probably being smelted below. His Nether Nebula continued its steady steady rotation.
But then, something changed. The rate at which the Stillborn Phoenix was absorbing emotions began to drop. Very quickly, it was only able to stomach a trickle of emotions. Yggdrasil was confused, but it just shunted the extra emotions up with the refined energy anyway; honestly, the World Tree didn’t really care what happened to the energy once it purified it. Yggdrasil was just savoring the experience at the moment.
Randidly began to frown as he felt for changes within his image. Of course, the dense folding of light around his eye did little to reveal the state of the image on its surface. But after almost a minute of investigation, it really seemed like nothing was wrong with the image; it was just literally full. Very soon, that trickling of emotions it continued to absorb stopped altogether.
Then a shudder ran through the Stillborn Phoenix and Randidly’s attention instantly heightened to its limits. He had taken the emotions rather lightly because of the nature of the Stillborn Phoenix, but if there was actually some permanent damage-
There was a sudden, massive blast of emotion out of the Stillborn Phoenix. If the emotions that had gone into the Egg of Depression had been at a three in terms of vibrancy and violence, their time within the egg had upped their impact to something closer to a seven. They erupted upward in a wave, joining the purified energy and instantly turning it even more chaotic and violent than it had been originally. It was a veritable sea of mania and violent emotions.
Randidly’s eyebrow twitched. All of the purification that he had done was immediately obliterated by the sinister and hungry emotions that raced upward with all the bloodthirsty glee of a pack of grey wolves that had caught the scent of prey. His impression that he was engaging in some sort of community service by working with this Aether immediately evaporated. It was once more confirmed that he was a dangerous strain on the environment, no matter where he was. Suddenly, Randidly was quite glad that he could only handle one-fifth of the ambient energy flowing upward.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
From what little that Randidly could sense from the emotions that the Stillborn Phoenix regurgitated, if a weak-willed person thoughtlessly absorbed some of this energy, they would be quickly overwhelmed by their darker impulses. The air was suddenly thick with hatred, envy, rage, and bitterness. Randidly could practically see those emotions smashing against the walls of the Web above him, bounding back and forth and growing stronger on adversity.
After about five minutes, the torrent of negative emotion stopped. The Stillborn Phoenix radiated puzzlement, as it tried to understand what had just happened, as though it hadn’t been the one to unleash that emotional calamity toward the Nexus. Randidly couldn’t help but be amused by its casual destructiveness.
Well, maybe I’m overreacting. Randidly thought, taking another glance upward through the mass of swaying cables above his head. Perhaps those emotions aren’t as dangerous as I thought. Maybe they just seemed especially violent because of how suddenly they came out of the Stillborn Phoenix…
While Randidly was thinking, the Stillborn Phoenix began sucking in emotions once more. Around ten minutes later, that absorptions slowed and then it spewed emotions that were definitely more volatile than they had been previously. The process repeated. Gradually, Randidly just accepted this as a function of the image.
And it was around the fourth such cycle that he realized it was almost as though his dead image was breathing.
*****
“Against. This means that this candidate is also rejected. Applicant, you are dismissed.” The tinier representative from the NLC adjusted her glasses and glanced back and forth down the people on the table. Her expression held barely controlled frustration. The Xyrt Brigade Special Investigator continued to seem bored, despite the seriousness of their plight. Lady Iellaya kept her face impassive as best she could, while knowing that she wasn’t doing a good job. Commandant Wick seemed troubled but didn’t say anything.
Part of the problem was the decisive difference in the candidates presented. They were either obvious cronies of the NLC or Military High Command. Randidly Ghosthound had been the compromised candidate, but Commandant Wick hadn’t been moved. Likely, his mind was on the fact that his great-granddaughter would be placed into the elite unit to be nurtured and would, therefore, be instructed by who they chose today.
Randidly Ghosthound didn’t exactly inspire confidence. He simply looked too much like his actual age.
Yet no other candidate had been able to gather enough of the votes either. And right when Lady Iellaya was resigning herself to another long day of meetings when someone did something very, very stupid, and created an opportunity for them to proceed forward.
“...You think I’m going to give up just like that?” The most recent applicant said incredulously. His metallic silver body gleamed as he folded his arms and remained seated in his chair. As one, all of the figures at the panel turned and looked at him. Even Lady Iellaya felt his expression turn cold at his audacity. “All my life… I have dreamed of the day that I would have the chance to fight for the Nexus. But because I was born on a world that had already passed the Calamities… When I was young, my father told me-”
Unfortunately for this young man’s backstory, all it took was for him to speak out of turn for the Commandant to lose his patience. The high ranking military general raised a single finger and spit and blood geysered out of the metallic humanoid’s mouth. Clutching his stomach, the applicant rolled off his chair and hit the gorgeous gold patterned floor.
An indeterminate liquid ran down the leg of the applicant’s chair to drip on the ground.
Commandant Wick studied the nail on the finger that he raised toward the young humanoid. He pursed his lips. “The most important quality in military personnel is respect for a superior’s command. You… when you clearly ignored a dismissal, you were guilty of insubordination. A disobedient soldier like you must be punished immediately, lest your mistake becomes a habit. Do you understand?”
On the ground, the applicant groaned. He shifted his trembling limbs and attempted to push himself off of the floor, but his hand slipped on some of the blood and bile that was, even now, still leaking out of his mouth. His head hit the floor with a dull thump. But the metallic man forced himself back up. Lady Iellaya could see a crack along his forehead. “I… I…!
When Commandant Wick raised his second finger, the applicant's metallic body bubbled and ruptured. An invisible force seemed to press his waist into the ground while folding both his legs and torso up into the air. Even now, Commander Wick’s expression remained mild. “Your input… was not required.”
The applicant vomited blood once more. Lady Iellaya had heard about some of the ‘exhibitions’ that Commandant Wick engaged in, but this was the first time she had seen one in person. His zeal toward discipline was legendary.
“What… what’s happening…? My body...” The applicant whispered. His voice was hoarse and shriveled like his vocal cords had been replaced with charred rubber.
Commandant Wick shook his head, his expression was one of pure sorrow. “You are experiencing pure chaos. With order broken, your life… will soon devolve into nothing. That is exactly why we need discipline. That is exactly why the military is necessary.”
The applicant began to release a keening whine. Meanwhile, the larger of the NLC women spoke up. “...this has been a very educational lesson, but… I think it’s best if we stop here.”
The Commandant glanced along the table toward the NLC portion of the panel. “Defending your applicant?”
“Not quite, no.” The woman shook her head. “It is just… that applicant was recommended to us by the Swacc Family.”
“Heh,” The Special Investigator snorted. “What a bunch of petty bastards. Nice one, Shevran.”
The Commandant’s expression turned thoughtful. Then he glanced over at Lady Iellaya. “Hum. Well, this presents a unique opportunity, doesn’t it? If your selection is truly as great a healer as you claimed, he will have no trouble… expediting the recovery of this applicant. I am willing to… rethink my earlier vote.”
The high wail from the metallic humanoid sputtered and went silent with a wet gurgle. The Commandant looked down at the two raised fingers he still maintained, almost surprised to find that the fingers had remained ramrod straight while he had been speaking to Lady Iellaya. He slowly lowered his fingers, earning a relieved sigh from the pile of mangled metal flesh on the floor.
Just as Lady Iellaya felt the spark of hope, it was dashed once more. The larger of the two NLC women frowned at the Commandant. “...I’m also rethinking my vote. Considering your attitude toward our candidates… I think this Ghosthound is unsuitable for a number of reasons. Therefore-”
“I’ll also change my vote,” The Special Investigator announced with a lazy yawn. “ I don’t need to abstain all the time. I’ll vote for this Ghosthound. Basically, anything to avoid spending another day with you shits.”
Everyone fell silent for several seconds, eyeing each other. There was no love lost between the various political factions of the Nexus. Even if they were finally facing an external threat from the Nether, the old grudges ran deep. But when it seemed that no one else had anything to say, the Commandant looked again at Lady Iellaya. “Well? Call him up.”