The third offer, too, Randidly set to the side for now. Heading to train with a mysterious figure in the Nexus would be a desperate move, but right now Randidly felt like it would be better to focus on more dependable sources of improvement. There were no extremely pressing circumstances on his vengeance.

Aside from the dull loss of Helen, which continued to be a constant presence within his heart.

For now, Randidly pushed all his thoughts Don Beigon and his offer out of his mind and pulled out the Nether materials given to him by Claudette. Even through his listlessness, a spark of curiosity flared. He opened the book and began reading about the method used by the Rex Family to create a Nether Core.

Very quickly, Randidly began to chuckle; the diagrams for the process were extremely familiar. The core problem that the people of the Nexus faced when making Nether Cores was that the Aether they used all came from the Nexus which was generally shaped to be antagonistic toward Nether: their own Aether could never be rid of that taint. So creating an environment where the Aether and Nether could coexist was extremely difficult.

Or rather, coexist with their own image and significance.

The Engraving Guild got around this by basically having one giant Nether Core to which more people were continually added. The sympathy between the two energies would always be slightly flawed, but the Nether of the Nether Lattice had been steadily forced to acclimate to images for generations. It was a ‘cheap’ solution.

Meanwhile, the Rex Family created an image world to help form a Nether Core. One that used the same principles as image refinement. A significant pool of Nether was stored within the image world in close proximity to your image. Through the use of time acceleration Engravings, Aether and Nether were forced to coexist for long enough that some bare connection was generated between them. Once that connection existed, the significance could be carved into a meaningful item to create a Nether Core without the two energies clashing violently enough to destroy the medium.

...which, according to the text, was a common response when enough time and effort wasn’t invested into making the Nether Core. Randidly shivered, trying not to imagine the pain of a Nether Core, even a partial one, fracturing.

In comparison to the Nether Lattice, the Rex Family method of creating a Nether Core required quite a bit of Aether to fuel the time accelerators. But once it was created, the power would belong entirely to the owner.

Randidly paged through the information about the formation of the Nether Core but didn’t find anything much that could help him now. Both of the two methods to generate faux-Nether Cores had the disadvantage that the accumulation of their power was extremely slow. The Nether Lattice relied on others joining and the Rex method required more Aether to fuel the time accelerators for even longer.

My growth has always been quick, but Nether is the area where I can really leverage the presence of both personal Aether and Nether within my body. Randidly licked his lips. In this area, I have even more talent than Neveah. I just need to figure out how I can best utilize that ability.

The knowledge he gleaned from the book was useful, but Randidly ultimately felt like he gained very little from the Nether methods until he reached the section that discussed the different Nether Attributes. Especially the section on Weight captured his attention.

Nether Weight is the Common Attribute observed by the System, yet it ultimately becomes the most important aspect of a Nether Core. Many of the Attributes that follow (Connections and Influence) are just records of an outside phenomenon. Even those with more concrete benefits to the holder (Scope and Synechdochence) are more ancillary capability, rather than the sheer force of Nether that a Core can mobilize.

All of them, of course, ultimately affect the power that the Nether Core can demonstrate. But Weight goes beyond the user’s ability to utilize Nether. It can directly boost the force of all aspects of an individual by briefly emphasizing them in a way that is difficult to accurately describe. Thousands of experiments were made to try and replicate the effect of Nether Weight using Aether inputs, but none were successful. This is the sole domain of Nether.

As such, it is recommended that the Nether Core wielder accumulate as much of each of the Attributes as possible before seeking to move to the next Rarity. For one, there appears to be a soft limiter on growth when one rapidly advances; if you proceed through Rarities too quickly, improving the Core will become more fraught with difficulty.

But most importantly, the advancement between Rarity tiers and the recognition obtained therein is the most efficient way to earn Weight. (For other methods, see attached Appendix IX for specific Nether Ritual designed to enhance your Nether Core) Outside opportunities to earn a few scant points in Weight are few and far between.

Influence +73!

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Randidly’s eyes were bright as he flicked to Appendix IX. As promised, there were several esoteric Nether Rituals there. The introduction explained that they were essentially patterned logic puzzles, ones that followed the unpredictable and sometimes contradictory nature of Nether. The goal was to remove as many of the complex lines as possible, while still making sure that the final Ritual didn’t collapse.

These Nether Rituals then had to be inscribed within the body of the user. They would affect the Nether Core directly, extracting Nether Weight in a manner that was superior to the base form. All could be active at once, the text explained, if one possessed enough Nether to fuel them all.

To that, Randidly only chuckled.

A large portion of the introduction to the Appendix listed a dozen common rules for manipulating Nether, but after reading them, Randidly snorted. About half were only partially correct or misleading in the manner they described Nether. And he didn’t think he was the ultimate authority on Nether behavior, so if he could spot flaws, there were probably more problems with the rules than even what he was noticing.

So Randidly ignored the rules entirely and moved on the to first of the seven included Nether Rituals with his own understanding. His Nether Core easily hummed to life. Almost instantly, the complex weaving of Nether lines engaged him enough that he felt the dull emotional ache slip away.

Congratulations! Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) has grown to Level 303!

About ten minutes later, Randidily hummed to himself and rocked back on his heels. His eyes were unfocused, sensing the floating arrangements around him rather than looking at them.

Randidly knocked his knuckles against the wooden floorboards and considered. Although he hadn’t expected the puzzles to be easy, he had been immediately confident that he’d be able to do better than the conflicting notes included with the Appendix. But after flipping back and forth a few times between the mesmerizingly complex Nether Ritual and the rules, Randidly had to admit that in the short term, he probably wouldn’t be able to match the accumulation of the Rex family.

At least for now, Randidly thought sourly in his heart.

He stood and stretched a bit, allowing the steady beat of his heart to ground him. Then he produced the Hierarchy of Burden and took upon himself all twenty of the electromagnetic layers. His breath hissed out through his teeth and Randidly struggled to keep his twitching under control; it had been a while since he had trained his body like this.

Once he achieved an equilibrium, he added a few of the light layers to toughen his flesh up. Then he closed his eyes and pictured the first Nether Ritual. His tail flicked back and forth, excited to return to its experimental Nether activities.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 356!

Enduring the discharge of the Hierarchy of Burden, Randidly tossed himself into an entirely different series of training methods than his assistance to Claudette had been. Obviously, he had a lot more to consolidate about his gains in image refining that he could apply to himself, but he still felt too emotionally weak to address those areas. For now, his body and his Nether would be the main focus.

And truthfully, the abstract and patterned arrangement of Nether was a good distraction. Very soon Randidly and his tail were lost in a complex web of energy flows and conflicting spiral arrangements. So deep was his concentration that the physical damage his body was accumulating didn’t even register with him. It was just another force he had to endure.

Congratulations! Your Skill Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 424!

Congratulations! Your Skill Grit of the Ascendant Bane (T) has grown to Level 418!

A few times Randidly paused to up the light radiation he was experiencing, but otherwise, he completely dedicated himself to the study of Nether. In this way, another one of Randidly’s natural advantages manifested itself. He had seen the Engraving Guild utilize Nether: they made Nether Rituals, but they were rigid structures that took time to set up. This was a direct result of the poor connection they had between Aether and Nether, making the energy chalky and fragile.

But Randidly could use his tail to spin a dozen prototype Nether Rituals through the air. His Nether was thick and malleable, so he could rapidly adjust his rituals to follow new insights. Besides, unlike how most people had to engage in a cumbersome process of tearing down the Ritual on their Nether Core, Randidly could massage it directly to shift it toward a new form.

Gradually, he lost himself in the experiments, balancing a dozen dense Nether plates around his torso. They rotated slowly like small galaxies. Occasionally, one would sputter and fail, but Randidly would quickly use his tail to spool out dense lines of Nether to replace it. The air crackled as his Nether forced away the System Aether lingering in the area.

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 390!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 398!

He experimented with the process several times, just to be sure that he wouldn’t waste a chance to improve his Weight. But as long as he was willing to flood the improvement Ritual with Nether, he could maintain it while he made adjustments to the overall structure. So when he had settled on his final design, he wove the first Nether Ritual around his body.

The pattern steadily seeped into his Nether Core. For a few seconds, a tingling ran through Randidly’s Soulspace. Then the notification that he had been waiting for popped up in front of him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Ritual (L) has grown to Level 399!

Congratulations! Due to your Nether Ritual, you have temporarily increased your Nether Weight by 47!

Randidly grinned. According to the notes in the Appendix, by following the rules it gives you can expect to achieve a maximum Weight increase of around 60. If I already have streamlined the Ritual 47 after just a short amount of time, I can definitely surpass that limit. Especially because the included rules are not true understanding.

This is an edge. This is exactly what I need. Randidly clenched his fists in triumph and anticipation. Although he knew his own power… this small success was something that he realized he had needed very badly.

This was the first step.