Randidly stood in the darkness of the Web, peering down into the depths of the Nexus. Even with his Grim Intuition, the murky shadows below were an impenetrable shroud. Secrets might be right below his position, but Randidly couldn’t tell. He had traveled deeper down into the Web than he ever had before, observing as the cables that earned the nickname the Web becoming increasingly infrequent and the materials of the construction being reveal more and more as sculpted bone.

If Edraine’s hideout was perhaps a kilometer down below Bray Street, the suspended shopping megaplex, this was two kilometers further beneath the hideout. Down here, Randidly never saw anyone else traveling through the Web. Shadows were his only companion.

Randidly had sunk so deeply into perpetual gloom that he didn’t really even notice the darkness anymore. His vision was a rainbow kaleidoscope of energy.

The Aether here was chaotic, to say the least. It hissed and rebounded off the walls in a frothing torrent. Remnant emotions and wishes seemed to manifest at the corners of Randidly’s vision, a testament both to his increased sensitivity and to the raw emotion that was maintained at this depth. In terms of close far this three kilometers brought him to the bottom, Randidly honestly had no idea; he simply had no idea how far down this spine extended.

In addition, the allotted layer for Nether underneath the System was growing exponentially as he descended. Even Randidly, with his massive Nether Nebula, could relax some of his boundaries and allow his thick Nether to rotate around him. To the point that it relieved a lot of the recent pressure he had been experiencing by keeping the Nether within his body. He lost a little bit of significance every second to the horrifying mass that he believed to be below him, but as long as he didn’t stay here for an extended period, it was negligible.

Still, Randidly wasn’t in a good mood. I can go a bit deeper… probably quite a bit deeper. Maybe one more kilometer…? The extra significance I received acts as an anchor that allows me to resist the pull of that monster down there… but will that depth be enough to actually see the Nether at the core of this…?

Randidly doubted that would be the case. He could spend some time trying to create an Engraving to help increase his resistance to the inexorable drag downward, but for the short term, it looked like this, too, was a dead-end to observing the flows of Nether. His casual observation of the Nexus from the Fifth Cohort Rally Station seemed to imply that even ten more kilometers down wouldn’t bring him close to that horrible cataclysm on which this place was built.

And after seeing the way I dragged Vizzeret into the Dreamcatcher… If I try and revisit the moment I saw the Nether King to observe him… perhaps he would be able to sense what I was doing and interfere…

Bah, I really could use someone who would teach me to use Nether...

While he slowly turned his way through his various options, Randidly floated in the Web, looking down into the darkness. The Grim Chimera amused itself by manifesting and swiping its talons through the helpless emotions remnants while Yggdrasil and the Stillborn Phoenix got to work releasing and then absorbing another wave of emotions. Raising his head, Randidly could barely see a spot of light above him; truly, he was quite deep below the Nexus.

Then he sighed. It’s not surprising that I’m starting to encounter more difficulties as I grow stronger. Before, Leveling was enough, but now… I need to have the conceptual framework or all of my preparations and training will be for naught…

After the Stillborn Phoenix was satisfied, Randidly pulled out the Philosopher’s Key and opened a portal to his penthouse apartment. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he stepped through onto the gleaming grey hardwood floor. With a shrug, he shed Sulfur and tossed the armor over a nearby chair. He still was a little unwilling to consider the option of the Fatepiece yet-

Randidly paused in his thoughts and looked up. Helen and Heiffal were waiting for him at the pointlessly massive dining room table. Truly, this apartment was so large that he hadn’t completely scanned it with Grim Intuition when he casually glanced around. He was getting sloppy.

But that wasn’t his concern at the moment. The fact that this duo was waiting for him wasn’t a great sign.

“Somebody die?” Randidly asked as he moved to the counter and poured himself a glass of whatever. When he turned around and saw that the plate of his replacement smoked boar meat was completely depleted in the middle of the table, his eye twitched.

Helen smirked. “Actually, yes. But not one of our recruits. We received a scroll from Commandant Wick: all current recruits and off duty military personnel will be required to attend the funeral of Commandant Lyrim, the one who died in the Fifth Cohort recently. In addition… he especially notes that the recruits will be given an entire day off to ‘grieve’.”

Randidly narrowed his eyes. “How… unusually generous of military high command. So the recruits will have 24 hours out from under our watchful eye. Hum. Well, I think we will still be alright, even if people find out I’ve been using Nether…”

Trailing off, Randidly frowned at the expression on Heiffal’s face. He paused and considered the twenty-four hours from a different angle. “...you don’t think that the free time is aimed at us at all. You think that someone wants to target the recruits.”

“Not that you won’t be targeted, but you will probably be a secondary concern. Commandant Wick has been making your relationship very public; plus you have a reputation of strength. Not like the recruits. They won’t be making contact with just our recruits, either. Although they would definitely be the most valuable.” Heiffal sighed.

Randidly’s gaze turned sharp and heavy. The Grim Chimera barred its teeth. He admittedly didn’t have much of a direct relationship with these recruits at the moment. His Nether and Aether were currently assisting them, but those energies couldn’t replace actual interactions and discussions. In the future, Randidly would likely train a few personally. But for now, he was more of a symbol than any real part of the recruits' lives.

But they were his recruits. Since someone would target them…

“What gives them to gall?” Randidly asked.

“You… probably haven’t had time to read through Lady Iellaya’s updates,” Heiffal said rather judiciously, while Helen clearly just rolled her eyes at Randidly’s obvious confusion. “As the tensions rise in the Nexus… there is a propaganda war going on between the Nexus Labor Council and Military High Command. In essence, you could say that the Military High Command is shouting that its new batch of recruits, that it’s been so carefully guarding, are going to solve all the problems in the Fifth Cohort and with the Aether rationing. Meanwhile, the NLC says that this would never have been a problem if the Military High Command wasn’t rife with corruption.”

“Which it probably is,” Helen added.

“But the problem,” Heiffal continued without acknowledging Helen. “Is that the NLC has been forced to ultimately be passive. The recruitment drive and the offensive have nothing to do with them. Even worse, they don’t have any way of understanding what is really happening in the recruitment camps except for official Military Briefings. So while the military is saying this is an emergency and they require additional Aether to train our troops… the NLC are completely in the dark. They conceded the expanded budget to the military in order to receive this 24-hour opportunity. ”

Stolen story; please report.

Gradually, Randidly’s expression eased. “...so rather than being worried about being attacked, the biggest concern is that our recruits are going to be bribed?”

“Well… basically, yeah,” Helen said. But then she narrowed her eyes. “However, let’s not forget who we are dealing with… the Nexus bigwigs are often less concerned with the very real enemies in front of it than with hoarding what tiny benefits they can take for themselves. Should some… unfortunate accident happen and the military fail spectacularly at stabilizing the Fifth Cohort, the NLC certainly won’t give a shit. It would be a win for them. So what Lady Iellaya warns about is some nudges toward that.”

Randidly’s expression stilled further until his figures were entirely neutral. His eyes glowed with an inner light. “Do you believe that is… likely? For them to not only take advantage… but that the NLC would actively try and sabotage our preparation efforts?”

“Lady Iellaya believes it to be very likely,” Heiffal said with a nod.

Randidly released a breath and scratched behind his ear. He had always known that Elhume and his System were designed for a singular purpose and that purpose had very little to do with respect for life. But Randidly had never really considered the effect that would have on those in power. From what he understood, the current Nexus was essentially a society that developed without any interference from Elhume; the original creator hadn’t been active in the day to day operations since the Second Cohort. Therefore, he had been willing to just assume they were typical bureaucrats.

But of course, living and benefiting under such a cruel system would warp even a saint.

I had assumed that Commandant Wick’s madness came from his experience on the battlefield. Suddenly, Randidly felt very cold, even standing in the middle of his tastefully decorated penthouse dwellings. But it might be better to assume that everyone at a certain level of influence gains that sort of cruelty. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of our twisted System and clamber up to that position in the first place.

Without much of a thought, Randidly reached out and touched against the organic flows of Aether and Nether that spiraled around him, filling up the whole of his training area. By now, whether consciously or not, the recruits and Randidly’s various subordinates had fully accepted the energy flows around them. Perhaps now that the deficiencies in acclimation had been adjusted in the recruits, Nether flowed more evenly between recruits and their trainers. He could sense them, all determined to hone their abilities and improve their power.

Those at the top prosper because of those at the bottom, Randidly thought rather sardonically, feeling the way that those energy flows that passed through the surrounding individuals returned inevitably to him. Here, he was the harsh taskmaster who gained the most benefits. But unlike the individuals from Military High Command and the NLC, Randidly remembered the bargain that had been struck.

In exchange for their support, they had his protection.

Randidly opened his eyes. “When is the funeral for the Commandant?”

“Two days from now,” Heiffal replied after consulting a scroll in his hands. “There will be a service in the Outer Realm where Commandant’s descendants lived.”

After a slow nod, Randidly spoke again. “Let’s not worry about what the recruits do while they are out in the world; we might have the manpower to keep track of them, but… there are dangerous forces in the Nexus that we won’t be prepared for. No reason to get into a blind fight. Better to just wait and screen problems as they make their way back to the Rally Station.

“In addition… lets up the training. Quite a bit. Since they are going to have a day off… let’s give them exhaustion worth resting for a day over.” Randidly’s eyes glowed emerald. “I’ll adjust the suppression array so it’s closer to my level. In addition, I’ll increase the amount of ambient energy I’m releasing. Helen? Find the opportunity to reward two more Darkstar Coins to appropriate recruits. Ideally, choose someone who will use the coin before the break day.”

“I know someone who would use it almost immediately,” Helen shook her head. She tapped her nails of her right hand against the hard surface of the table. “The problem is letting him have the chance to genuinely earn it… the kids a fuckign nightmare. Very much a young and pissy brat. But I do have a few ideas.”

Randidly barred his teeth. “I just need the chance to appear before them one more time. And we might need to adjust the challenge rules to make sure that things last long enough that they can perceive my images and not just my body.”

“...I thought you weren’t going to use your images in those challenges,” Helen spoke slowly with an aggrieved expression on her face.

Randidly couldn’t help but chuckle. “Ha. Generally, yes. It will be primarily a physical demonstration. But I… heh, you will have it rough in the confrontation, sorry Helen.” She sighed in an exaggerated manner and Randidly continued to speak. “But I will need to address this situation directly. I’ll make a small speech after the challenge. We need to handle this somewhat carefully.”

“How?” Heiffal asked.

Randidly flexed his hands. “By reminding these elites that being a part of something matters. That integrity and justice are their own reward. That if any one of them puts their own benefits above the lives of the people in the Fifth Cohort-”

“Randidly,” Helen rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to beat around the fucking bush. Scare them shitless with a demonstration and then talk about how important it is not to be tempted to taking a bribe from outside forces. We get it.”

For a second, Randidly froze. Then he chuckled; Helen certainly had a particular way of viewing the world and that view didn’t include platitudes. “...well, that’s an extremely blunt way of viewing it. But I suppose that’s right. Alright, any questions? If there’s nothing else, I’ll head to adjust the array.”

Heiffal and Helen nodded and went about their own work. They would likely have their own preparations to make so that the next two days would be absolute hell for the recruits. But Randidly had to admit that it appeared these recruits absorbed lessons best when exhausted. It had been their methodology thus far and he didn’t think he would change now.

With quite a bit of longing in his face, Randidly looked at the plate that was completely devoid of boar meat. I guess I’ll need to take the time to roast another boar… and then hide the finished product from Helen...

After his two subordinates departed, Randidly used the Philosopher’s Key to open a portal to the core portion of the suppression array. It was located in a stone room underneath the individual training pod area. With his experience working with his own pod, it was rather simple for Randidly to increase the suppression.

Currently, recruits were left without any Stamina and thus had to use their images in an environment that had a low, ambient amount of Nether. That was the source of the suppression. But it was quite easy to both increase the ambient Nether and also add an additional bit of Engraving that would noticeably increase the gravity in the area. Randidly’s test subject was himself, so he sat in that enclosed stone room toyed with the various settings.

His own pod mostly targeted his usage of image, so he had never gone all out to target physical movements.

Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 310!

Randidly’s face was illuminated only by the soft glow coming from the Engravings that ran across the floor beneath him and the walls around him. He soon grew curious about the limits of his own body and pushed to the limits, earning an unconscious growl from his body. After enduring the combined suppression for a few minutes, Randidly deactivated the array and upped the effectiveness even further. Then he pumped the Engraving full of Aether so it operated at maximum efficiency.

This time, his body practically shuddered as it withstood the force. The increased gravity and polarized air pressured him from every angle. His image physicalizations naturally emerged to resist the effects. Randidly grinned down at the bulging veins along his chest and arms. I might have broken the System limit on physical strength, but that doesn’t mean that I’m completely unstoppable with just my body. That’s the limit of investing overmuch in only the physical-

Inside Randidly’s chest, while he was enduring full strength physical suppression, the Grim Chimera stirred. The rough scar tissue that covered the Grim Chimera began to crack and tear, just slightly.

Oh? This might be… Randidly’s grin widened.