Randidly returned to the image world from the Visage of Obsession and still needed to spend some time recovering his mental state. He anxiously felt the storms both above and beneath the ground inching closer, but he also knew that it was useless to push himself; he did his best work when he was in his best state. It was that simple.

Until the Visage of Obsession forced him not to take breaks, he would take care of himself. So he meditated, trying and failing over and over again to picture someone’s face.

Congratulations! Your Skill the Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 376!

When Randidly opened his eyes, the image around him hadn’t settled into a new normal; pressure continued to build. So he returned to the frantic series of tasks, taking advantage of the very slight increase in efficiency as one part of his usual mental shape was folded back. Of course, currently, he had no idea why the Visage of Obsession had chosen to take away his ability to recognize faces. But he was too busy to dwell on the issue.

As disturbing as his earlier failures to remember faces were, he had bigger fish to fry. The gathering storm meant that he didn’t have much time to spare.

Randidly built additional settlements for the Lizahk and invented architecture for their culture. He increased the salt content of the sea and added some fossilized remains in the depths of the murky water. Then he created large deposits of broken sand and bones on the shore to add a sense of natural history. Following that, Randidly twisted and began to work more finely with air currents to feed into this building storm vibe.

Congratulations! Your Skill Grand Perspective (R) has grown to Level 145!

His emerald eyes flashed as a thought occurred to him. Randidly peered up at the storm. I’m doing this the hard way… but there is a certain framework already in place, right? And if that’s true…

Randidly activated Ripple of Amenonuhoko and his vision was instantly filled with the ripples from the potent natural forces of the storm. Chuckling to himself, he raised his finger and began to manipulate the forces directly, without trying to change the image. In terms of mental energy, working with the natural forces directly was much cheaper.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 371!

Still, Randidly quickly felt himself reaching the end of his mental fortitude. Perhaps it was the increased efficiency with his deepening usage of the Fatepiece, but he felt like he needed those breaks after a shorter and shorter amount of time. No sooner had he basically finished one task than he spun and began to adjust another.

He created the remnants of plant life in small corners of the frigid planet and then he took a break. He allowed his mind back to spin back to his full capacity, but that too felt unnaturally quick.

Randidly blinked and moved on to the next task. He moved up the slopes, increasing the treacherous cliffs around the barrier mountain range. His tail flicked back and forth, nudging the natural ripples of the rock face toward a harmonious barrier. With his spear as a tail, he carved majesty into the mountains.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 372!

Blink.

Randidly pulled back from physical details and reached out once more for the emotional affect of this place. Claudette’s image guide continued to hoot; at this point, it seemed thoroughly overwhelmed by the changes he was making.

He drank deeply from Claudette’s loneliness, internalizing that poignant sensation.

Blink.

Humming to himself, he filled in the ground of this planet. He could not feel temperature, but he took care to apply the emotional taste he had into all the desolate spaces within the crust. Nether spun to fill in the depth he was providing; where there had once been civilization, now there was only emptiness.

Congratulations! Your Skil Grand Perspective (R) has grown to Level 146!

Blink.

Congratulations! Your Skill Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 377!

With the ground more fully realized, Randidly glided beneath the surface and watched the deep blue fingers creeping deeper and deeper from the flawed ice sword. He quickly calculated the speed of its spread and concluded that he had created a good buffer for himself. Then he raised his attention to the rumbling storm.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The lightning within the clouds was beginning to shift; all the pressure had imbued the electromagnetic discharged with a vicious sense of chill. Somehow, the emotional radiation was tainting even the weather. Randidly grinned to himself, but quickly returned to his task; the shift proved his strategy was working, but he still needed to take advantage of this chance. He raised his hands and traced the ripples of chaotic natural energy that came off the ground in waves. The more he worked with them, the more he realized how they differed from the natural forces in the real world. More than likely, there was a flaw in some detail of the planet that he was making.

But for his purposes, the efficient manipulation of the energy was still useful.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 373!

Blink.

His focus shifted. Randidly’s eyes glittered and he peered through the rugged exterior to the heart of the mountains. With the natural energy in place, now he needed the history. Perhaps this was not the capital, but this was once a holy place to the Lizakh. Not only were the richest mineral deposits in the world located here, but they erected a grand temple on the summit to bring honor to the Patron of the Sun. At the highest peak, above the clouds, the energy of the sun cleansed and empowered their weapons…

He continued to work, experiencing the strange sensation of acceleration. Everything spun and tumbled together.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 500!

The notification finally caused Randidly to pause. Then he had to grasp a granite outcropping next to him to keep himself from collapsing sideways. The spell of accelerating activity was broken and returned to himself. Perhaps he would lose some of his efficiency by pausing now, but he believed it was worth it.

After all this time fighting and struggling, Randidly had increased a Skill to Level 500. No System announcement greeted him, but he had already assumed that other, older beings in the Nexus possessed even more horrifying Skill Levels. But he felt quite a bit gratified to have made it to this point.

So many things had wanted to kill him. All of them had failed.

Now, to see if I got a reward… Randidly smirked and opened up his Path screen. And yes, there was now a new Path option available to him… but the name and cost of the Path stunned him into silence for three full seconds.

Determined I 0/100

“Is this a joke?” Randidly growled. Obviously, the System didn’t answer him. Other than this extremely cheap new arrival, the Paths available to him remained unchanged. Pushing a Transcendent Skill to Level 500 was not an accomplishment worth rewarding, it seemed.

Or perhaps at this point, the Nexus didn’t want very much to keep giving him rewards.

Still, Randidly couldn’t help but wonder if he was overthinking the first option; it was a multi-part Path, so perhaps the latter versions would be more impactful. Besides, the first step only cost 100 PP. He currently possessed 1903 PP, so he just dumped a hundred into the Path. And didn’t earn even a single Stat for his trouble.

His mouth twitched, even before he read the Path Completion Notification.

Congratulations! You have completed the Determined I Path! Although you have risen to great heights, certain confusing opportunities still arrive before you. It is unclear how heading down these digressions will benefit you, but your determination to improve yourself drives you to hone your edge, no matter how small the chance of improvement may be. And while minor, these Paths remain novel enough to catch your eye.

Branching Path! After completing your brief adventure, you understand that such a small deviation can do little for a powerful being such as yourself. Would you like to accept an extremely small reward now or defer the reward until later?

Randidly pursed his lips. Suddenly, the Path label of determination made quite a bit of sense to him. Considering his options, he rubbed his chin. So it’s a test of how long someone is willing to defer gratification, huh. Well, considering the speed I can earn a hundred PP, waiting on it for now isn’t a big deal. The real question is how much the next Path will cost…

With that in mind, Randidly chose to defer his reward.

Congratulations! You have waited to receive your true reward. Health, Mana, and Stamina +20!

Randidly rolled his eyes at the nominal reward for completing the Path and looked back into the Menu. After completing the first step, he now had access to the Determined II 0/200 Path. Which left him torn again: having the Path give him nothing and increase the cost by a hundred was much different than the cost doubling every time he finished it.

Well, those can wait. Randidly glanced up at a particularly aggressive bolt of lightning that crashed overhead; the natural energy of Claudette’s image world was rising toward a crescendo. In the aftermath of the discharge, frost condensed on Randidly skin, a testament to the arctic blast it released. He wiped the softening substance off his arms and returned to the task of refining Claudette’s image. He reached into the heart of the mountain and continued to imagine a partially excavated gold mine.

Soon he felt his mental energy-depleting, so he paused and rested. The sense of acceleration returned as he fell into the repeated image refinement task. Pressure continued to build in the grey clouds above his head.

Blink.

Randidly continued to dig. Even before Claudette’s sword arrived on this planet, the environment up at the top of the peaks was dangerous. So they likely needed some underground living quarters to escape the elements.

Blink.

Once the base was built, his focus shifted to emotions again. He needed to create a sense of peace, prosperity, and worship within the grand temple on top of the mountain. That way, Claudette’s image could steadily erode what the Lazakh had built.

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 501!

Blink.