After his discussion with Octavius, Randidly returned to Nrorce’s homeworld with a frown on his face. With the Philosopher’s Key, he portaled right to the edge of the farm. He pulled on the gloves and walked through the white-lightning corridor, ridding himself of the images that clung onto his person from his brief foray into the Nexus.

Somehow, he wished that the lightning was stronger, to burn away all his doubts.

On the one hand, Randidly’s trip had been extremely successful. He had obtained the asteroid needed by the Nemesai to start working on the Calamity and he had learned additional information about an attack against the Swacc Family. Even if it was partially an accident, the reveal of the Swacc Family’s experiments would bring pressure against the longtime adversary of Randidly Ghosthound. That was a cause worth celebrating.

But on the other hand, Randidly still felt vaguely sick to be condoning and enabling a Calamity against Expira that would kill another wave of people. In addition, the situation with the Swacc Family was a sharp reminder that although Randidly had gained a little bit more understanding, there was a lot of depth to the Nexus that was beyond his experience. The sense of undercurrents he read from Octavius’ heavy expression stank of danger. For now, it was probably for the best if he kept a low profile and continued to improve himself.

So, the farm. No matter what else it was to the owner, it was a refuge for him. The sensation of sun on his skin, the noises of the animals, the scents of dirt, shit, and fruit… everything spoke of freedom from the Nexus. The cleansed images and special equipment just reinforced that impression. Randidly stood on the farm and sucked in a deep breath of the air; perhaps only standing here could he understand the strange fixation that many had on the escape offered by Alymian.

Randidly found Nrorce sitting at the dining room table, waiting with cooling food in front of him. The gravy was a brown-grey ooze and the meat was dry. The blue-skinned goblin glanced up at Randidly as he bent to come into the sunken home. His expression was… strange. “I wasn’t sure whether you’d be back.”

“I still owe a bit more, right?” Randidly said slowly as he proceeded to the table and sat down.

Nrorce gave Randidly a heavy glance. “...well, yea. Just a bit more, maybe.”

Then the two began to eat. Even cold, the food Nrorce made was delicious.

After the meal, Nrorce gave Randidly a number of adjustments he wanted to be implemented the remade warehouse Engraving and Randidly got back to work. With Neveah’s help, he readjusted the Engraving and allowed Acri more free time to head beneath the warehouse and harvest experience from the bewildered ants. The spear seemed to hint that it was approaching another transformation.

Work here was simple and direct. Randidly let it swallow him whole. His tail burned with Mana as he began to adjust his earlier work.

Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 428!

Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 429!

The one benefit of a farm was that there always seemed to be another task that needed to be done immediately. Plus, accomplishing those tasks mostly relied on Randidly’s quick and sure movements and not at all upon his mental energy. So while he gathered the apple harvest, re-fenced the bear enclosure, and shoveled pheasant shit, Randidly was free to continue his own mental training without interruption.

Within his body, he sharpened the details of his images repeatedly. His daydreams were full of the greenery beneath the auspices of the World Tree and the desolation at the edge of an event horizon. He also carefully gathered and spun Nether into dense threads to use in an even larger Nether Array to begin to repay his debts to the Nemesai.

In addition, Randidly continued to rapidly accumulate significance and Influence. At this point, he had quickly blown past twenty thousand Influence and was rising higher every second. It didn’t seem that simply adding physical objects to his Alpha Cosmos was the cause, but that the specific role of the object added had some sort of multiplicative effect. Because definitely, the actions he was taking would have a profound influence on Expira…

For better or for worse.

That thought made Randidly grimace. Another shift was gradually happening in his inner world, although Randidly couldn’t decide whether it was a good or a bad thing. Even with his recent trip to Expira, there were simply too many details shaping his home planet’s reaction. So Randidly moved his powerful body through the mundane tasks of the farm, polishing its edges and gradually seeing the things that he affected come to life; he felt very accomplished to harvest food and then have Nrorce cook it that night.

The process granted him peace and fulfillment the likes of which Randidly had experienced only rarely since the System had arrived.

Yet simultaneously, the more that sense of peace filled him, the more Randidly was filled with a burning restlessness. Right now, his Elite Squad was out there pursuing the remnants of the Nether King’s forces. Vualla was doing the same, probably in even more dangerous circumstances for the Xyrt Brigade. And there was the Nether King himself, somehow plotting to reach the Path to the Pinnacle and accomplish some nefarious task.

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And then there was the voice that had called to Randidly from the base of the shaft…

Randidly took a break from his mid-morning sweep through the fields for bugs and sat on the ground. His tail, almost subconsciously at this point, sketched out the framework for a Nether Ritual in the air behind him. He used the leather gloves to wipe some sweat from his forehead and let his breath hiss out between his teeth.

Nrorce would be mad if he saw me sitting… the corner of Randidly’s mouth curled upward. Then he shook his head.

Balance. That was something he wasn’t good at. Randidly Ghosthound only knew how to be consumed by necessity. These restive days of waiting and slow preparation… were stressful in a way that he wasn’t sure how to articulate.

The only times that he was able to honestly answer that burning fear in his soul that asked ‘is this enough?’ is when he allowed himself to be consumed. To do any less… almost felt like he was inviting disaster.

In the end, Randidly didn’t let himself think about those inner fears for too long. Instead, he pressed himself to his feet and got back to work. His tail began sweeping back and forth, drawing great, looping Nether Arrays in the air behind him. Even if every other part of his body wanted to simply bury his head, the tail flared up and slashed at the Nether problems with renewed alacrity.

Congratulations! Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) has grown to Level 249!

Gradually, precariously, stressfully, days began to roll past. Soon, Randidly had returned to the farm for a week. The meals were a reassuring proof that time was passing, yet everything else just seemed to be drifting along with the fluffy white clouds that loafed across the sky. After the strange ‘terrorist’ attack on the Swacc base, the news Randidly got from Octavius was completely bland. The clearing of Nether remnants in the Fifth Cohort continued without any end in sight.

Randidly refined his Nether further. His understanding steadily increased. He began to consider very seriously his attempt to bring a whole world into the Alpha Cosmos.

On the eighth day since Randidly had returned to the farm, he received a message from Claudette Beigon that was outside the usual routine of the days: she had prepared some of what Randidly had requested as a show of good faith. She wanted to meet and discuss how he could help her.

*****

The group from the Engraving Guild stopped dead. They were twenty strong, all part of the Nether Lattice, and all rather influential individuals at that. But each felt a sense of dread in their hearts as they looked at the man standing proudly in front of the doorway to the target of their raid.

They stood in the middle of what was normally a busy street, yet somehow the other citizens of the Nexus seemed to have known this was coming and evacuated the area. The stone buildings seemed deserted around them. The windows were empty or locked shut. This wasn’t the headquarters of the Swacc Family, but it was where many of their outstanding talents were stationed. Considering the blunder the Swacc Family made, it was only a matter of time before this location was targeted. The tall doors and vaulted archways of the windows dripped arrogance.

The tension was thick.

Another ten seconds passed before the leader of this team from the Engraving Guild stepped forward. “Velio Dunn. What is the meaning of this? You… are not affiliated directly with the Swacc Family. Please stand aside and allow us to continue our investigation.”

Velio Dunn threw back his shaved head and laughed. His shoulders bobbed up and down, making the glowing bastard sword strapped to his back seem to shiver. Then Velio lowered his gaze and grinned around at the Nether Lattice members in front of him. “Well, when I get paid to accomplish a job, what else can I do but fulfill my duty? I have a reputation to uphold.”

The wind whistled once more. Electricity steadily built in the air, as the murky density of Nether started to ooze outward from the Engraving Guild group. But the leader’s nerve failed him when he observed the way that Velio Dunn simply grinned and waited, allowing the man to make his own preparations.

The Engraving Guild leader snorted. “Pah! What can one individual do? Don’t get involved in fights that are bigger than you, Velio-”

CLANG!

The Engraving Guild Leader didn’t even see the movement. One moment Velio Dunn was standing with his sword sheathed, the next he was a storm of motion. The leader’s eyes narrowed; a figure had interposed themselves between the leader and Velio Dunn, blocking the attack. A Military High Command Commandant floated between them, red-faced while resisting the attack.

And even more ominously, the two members of the Engraving Guild that were standing most near to the leader slumped sideways. They had been silently bisected by Velio Dunn as a warm-up to his attack on the leader. If he had chosen to attack him first...

“You-!” The leader bellowed. He glanced sideways at the Commandant. “Well, I suppose there is no sense hiding it any longer. Call out your forces, let us finally rid the Nexus of this infuriating flea.”

“No,” the Commandant responded coolly. “We retreat.”

“Booooo.” A new voice sounded out over the assembled forces. From on top of the Swacc building, a Vulpine humanoid stepped forward and leaned down against the ramparts. Six tails undulated behind the figure. “How did you sense me? You are pretty sharp, you know that? Hey, Velio, maybe we should kill them, just for that.”

There was something… worn about the foxman. The bags under his eyes, the prickly and stiff set of his fur… there was something about the figure that reminded the Engraving Guild leader of a shirt that had been laundered too many times. Some of the base substance of its existence was wearing away, leaving a hollow remnant.

But even somewhat drained, there was a horrifying pervasiveness of that Vulpine’s aura.

“Bah. Why chase someone who wishes to retreat?” Velio Dunn waved a hand. “Such foes aren’t even fun… tsk, why did I even bother accepting these assignments…? Tsk, tsk, I wonder where the hell that Ghosthound is hiding… doesn’t he work for Military High Command? Can you just send him my way? Just thinking about how he’s probably improving right now… ehhhehe..”

The Commandant didn’t answer, simply taking a step back and giving a sharp glance to the Engraving Guild Leader. Then they retreated, reporting that the Swacc Family would be a more difficult nut to crack than anticipated.