The breath came in through his nose and out through his mouth, finishing its existence as a powerful jet of steam over the sharp mountain cliff. Despite the seething storm Randidly just left, he found himself at peace. The sensation of sunlight on his skin as he meditated on the grey cliff was oddly relaxing.

Randidly had his activities in this longer recovery window all planned out. The restriction progression was much slower than the prior iteration; he had a full 24 hours to adjust before moving forward. And truthfully, as the physical restriction coiled around him and accumulated toward 40%, he was quite uncomfortable. Randidly Ghosthound embraced discomfort willingly on his journey to the summit.

He reviewed his plan as he circulated air through his body and released another powerful breath. After resting to rid himself of mental fatigue, he would spend a short stretch operating through each of his images, working them more fully into their new interior restrictions and also examining how each interacted with his strengthening image physicalizations.

Hard to judge against the dangerous force spikes, Randidly looked down at the armored ridges on his right arm with glittering eyes. His golden veins seemed to pulse with life now that he sat in the sun. But my image physicalizations are nearing a qualitative change. At least on that front, coming to this mountain had been very fruitful.

Once he had finished with his images, he had planned on moving on to reviewing the different versions of the Grand Pattern he had encountered within the Third Step. Then he would take another break before finishing with a long training chunk where he strengthened the budding ties between various Skills, which Randidly believed would lead to a new Amenonuhoko Skillset.

However, as he opened his eyes after the first portion of his rest, everything else was pushed to the side by the notifications he found waiting for him. They clustered his vision densely, indicating how long they had been flooding toward him.

Influence +117!

Influence +54!

Influence +90!

Influence +303!

…

Randidly blinked several times. Then he twisted around, feeling the rising pressure coming tightening around his Nether Core and forcing it toward an even more impressive density. Sure enough, stretching back off around the mountain toward the Third Step, thin streams of Nether undulated in their approach to him. Randidly’s pupils dilated as he watched the steady significance gathering back into him.

He clenched his fists, feeling oddly guilty at the harvest. They took my Nether to gradually retain their memories. For me, what they borrowed was so small that I didn’t even notice it. However, after regaining their self-awareness and accomplishing the great feat of reaching the end of the Third Step-

It’s like I fucking invested in them. And now I’m getting everything back, with a huge amount of interest. Hah. Truly, I owe those shades so much…

Influence +271!

Influence +39!

His Influence continued to rapidly skyrocket, pushing its total past 200,000, with more arriving every second. Based on the previous experience with the improvements of the Nether Core, he could probably earn additional Weight if he made it to 250k. Of course, since he had already come this far and there wasn’t any real pressing need to improve, he could try for half a million Influence before he increased his Rarity.

Randidly huffed out a breath and spoke to the cliff in front of him. Dwelling on this new debt to the previously deceased would help him not at all. “Since I’m already thinking about Nether anyway, maybe let’s work on the Nether Weight improvements.”

Influence +102!

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 433!

Randidly narrowed his focus to the two arrays hovering around his Nether Core. He could have perhaps attempted to add another one of the arrays he had learned from the book Claudette had given to him, but he suspected he had gained some additional insights almost accidentally, during his experience with the Grand Pattern.

He traced the lines of his whirling Nether Core. Just like when I sat at the core of the storm of force, the pattern isn’t just an external thing. I am the pattern. The Nether Core is a part of the structure.

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 407!

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Randidly began to massage some of the lines of Nether, seeking to streamline the arrays. The less actual Nether was used to make the balanced shape around his Nether Core, the greater benefit to his Weight that Randidly would receive. His attention swirled around the actual Nether Core, humming with potent force as it absorbed the continued stream of Influence and then pumped out velvety thick Nether that would circulate through his body.

His senses were delicate as he traced the shape of the first ritual. Theoretically, the Nether Array and the Nether Core didn’t truly interact. They were technically written on different mediums, with the Core being physically present inside the Alpha Cosmos and the arrays being made within Randidly’s Soulspace.

However, they would not function if they didn’t interact. And that slight intersection point was what Randidly planned on utilizing. Its structural assistance should be small, but it would alter the entire shape. Behind his back, Randidly’s tail flicked excitedly.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 434!

Congratulations! Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) has grown to Level 369!

Congratulations! Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) has grown to Level 370!

He carefully shaved away Nether along the lines of connection, feeling the presence of his Nether Core creating a pillar of reliance for the array. His senses were delicate as he flicked the connections with as much gentleness as he could manage. They hummed with tension but held without problem.

His smile stretched wider. Fine then. The array collapsing will probably hurt like a bitch… but let’s see how much we can push the envelope.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation has grown to Level 435!

Congratulations! Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) has grown to Level 371!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath (M) has grown to Level 390!

Congratulations! Your Skill Precise Nether Array (L) has grown to Level 433!

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 410!

Originally, the first boosting array had given Randidly an additional 47 Nether Weight and the second had provided 43. However, with the insights Randidly incorporated into the process boosted those numbers to 61 and 70 respectively. Looking at the new result, Randidly couldn’t believe the boost had been so massive; he had shattered the so-called ‘limits’ described in the books.

However, he quickly grinned. “This just proves this is the right path. That’s a 4.1% increase in all of my capabilities that I didn’t have before, plus just a better understanding of Nether. Of course, this sort of boost means that improving further will be that much harder. And I still don’t feel like I’m closing in on the abilities of the Nether King…”

Randidly stood and stretched. After waiting here for so long, his skin had been well warmed by the sun. He bowed once more toward the Third Step before turning to the left and continuing to follow the mountain path around toward his next destination. He still had about eight hours to go before the restrictions would completely settle on his body at 40%, but he wanted to find his next destination so he could squeeze all the potential he could out of himself in the interim.

After ten minutes of walking on the stone path, Randidly started into a light jog. After about a half-hour of that, he quit with pretenses and accelerated into a loping blur that rushed around the side of the massive mountain. His expression became increasingly gloomy as the path rose and curled away from him. Perhaps this is less of a rest break and more of a marathon? The only reason this obnoxious place gave so much time was so you could struggle to make it to the next Step before your restriction grew too large. Without the ability to boost yourself externally with images and with such a large chunk of your body restriction, some people likely failed miserably in this regard.

However… Randidly planted his foot and accelerated forward even further, pushing his Dreadful Alacrity to its limits. Even missing 34-ish percent of my capability, my physical Stats are higher than most.

An hour of flat-out sprinting finally brought Randidly to a steep slope. Sneering slightly, be bounded up the rocky scramble in only four steps. Then, at the top of the mountain, he paused and looked forward.

In front of Randidly was a sheer drop, falling once more into the soft embrace of the seething mist. Right up against the drop was a barrier, keeping the consciousness and its deadly Grand Pattern out. There were some clouds up above, but most of the energy seemed to be contained within the suddenly harsh rays of sunlight that pressed down against his skin. Standing up here, he felt very exposed.

Looks like this Step will be a little different than the previous ones. Randidly’s expression grew serious as he shaded his eyes from the sun and glance out over the churning mist.

From his current position, he could see another portion of the mountain rising at the end of this small, elevated valley filled with mist. That was likely the path leading from the Fourth Step to the Fifth. In between that slope and Randidly’s position, there were thousands of stone pillars poking their tips out of the seething mist. Based on the setup, he guessed that it would not be a very good thing to fall off of the pillars and enter the waiting storm.

The pillar tops weren’t extremely small, with plenty of space to stand comfortably on the tip, but dodging force spikes and other dangerous weapons of the Grand Pattern on that restricted surface would be extremely difficult. Randidly also guessed that a lot of people who had come before him and had not been able to move as quickly between the Third and Fourth Step would have their spirits broken by just witnessing this stage.

If you weren’t physically capable to begin with, having 40% of your body sealed and being required to jump several meters between stone pillars, while also avoiding attacks from above, would be literally impossible.

“Well, all that’s for later,” Randidly turned away. “For now-”

But he paused, feeling a stir from his left arm. Instantly, a grin broke out across his face.

Sulfur was finally evolving.