Crackle!

Crimson lightning branched and spat as it traced the edges of a massive grey storm that churned slowly in place. Intermittent rumbles blasted out from the interior, where steam and natural energy swirled together to form an impenetrable barrier. Occasionally, searing blasts of light surged from the hidden core of the storm, but they rapidly faded and reappeared in new locations. The storm was a living entity, pulsing and releasing strange waves of pure force that pressured the surrounding space.

It was enough churning chaos to chew up a city block and spit out gravel.

Congratulations! Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge (M) has grown to Level 519!

Indignation rolled off of the consciousness in the sky, which tossed down nearly fifty force spikes in an instant to tear through the storm. However, as those force spikes grew too close to the storm, the dangerous crimson lightning and the unpredictable illumination grew especially apparent although the edges. Those two forces became a stubborn rind around the storm, weakening the force spikes to half of their normal potency. Although the consciousness could punch out small chunks from the storm, its irritation only grew as the storm slid forward to the next pillar without needing much time at all to recover.

It ceased throwing out force spikes and gathered a massive amount of energy to itself. Meanwhile, the storm below paused as though making its own preparations to handle whatever attack was coming. The consciousness squeezed and squeezed, building up pressure. Then with a dull roar, a huge wave of force blasted downward, large enough to cover the entire Fourth Step.

In response, the storm suddenly began to rotate at an extremely fast speed. The steam and natural energy blurred and receded, sucked into the central area by the acceleration. As the steam shifted, the potent Nether flows that served as the foundation of the storm were revealed as thick, black coiled vipers. Just as the massive force was about to arrive, those flows exploded and expanded, rising to smash into the Grand Pattern’s attack. Four black and crimson fangs led the expanding storm, their sharp points aiming up at the sky.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko (T) has grown to Level 578!

Congratulations! Your Skill (Domain) Resonant Fangs of Extinction (M) has grown to Level 413!

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The two forces smacked against each other, all that natural energy grinding away at the opposing side, attempting to overpower and dominate. For several long seconds, both forces flared their peak capability. The reverberations caused several of the damaged pillars in the surrounding space to buckle and collapse into the mist waiting below. The air rumbled and the mist seethed.

However, neither could remain so explosive for long. The consciousness furiously tried to gather more power for the last push it needed, but already the pressure was gone; its attempt to pancake the entire Step had failed. It could only watch in dismay as this annoyance continued to survive.

The storm also weakened and this weakening was much more abrupt than the Grand Pattern’s. For a second the consciousness felt triumph; it seemed like the infuriating storm would finally collapse after over expending itself to resist.

Then that horrid creature at the center of the storm began to glow golden and emerald. Rapidly, it pulled power down from the intense sunlight that filled the sky, both weakening the Grand Pattern and strengthening itself. With that new surge of energy, the storm stabilized began to swirl once more. The steam and natural energy returned with a vengeance edged with crimson lightning and intermittent illumination. The consciousness stirred up the wind to howl, impotent and incensed.

Yet for a short amount of time, it could do nothing. It had completely expended its power, leaving the storm free to glide forward-

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 587!

Congratulations! Your Skill the World Tree Sips from Every Realm (T) has grown to Level 479!

-and pass through the barrier, causing the dangerous clump of energies and force to cleanly melt away. Randidly Ghosthound, sporting emerald hair to his chin and the streamlined and sharp-edged armor of the Grey Creature across his body, landed softly on the slope. His heavily armored lower tail flicked back and forth, slicing deep lines into the stone ground. He turned around and grinned cheekily up at the consciousness in the sky. “Gotcha.”

However, the fury of the Grand Pattern was already fading. Now that Randidly had gone to the middle portion and then followed the spiral path back outward to reached the slope to the Fifth Step, it once more entered a hibernation state to prepare for their next challenge.

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Randidly shrugged and sat down. These last two months of struggle in this Step had been extremely fruitful for him.

No follow-ups from Elhume had come calling, which Randidly believed could either mean that he had truly fooled the powerful entity or the time acceleration was doing him quite a few favors. Either way, he had been able to use Nether to annihilate the significance left by the Patrons and reassure himself that he shouldn’t be ambushed again.

Although considering the tracker is Elhume… Randidly pressed his lips together. He didn’t dare become too cocky. There was too much he didn’t know about the capability of his foe.

Still, the second half of the Fourth Step had seen Randidly take three giant leaps forward in terms of his abilities. The first was from studying the bone charm, which greatly increased his understanding of Nether. He didn’t have much of an opportunity to do so with the constant harassment from the Grand Pattern, but even his brief examinations had firmed up his foundations in Nether theory, before he could study the core patterns closely.

Second, Randidly had managed to evolve his Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil Skill. Perhaps because Golden Roots had become Aureate Arteries, the expansion was more wholistic; hence he gained the World Tree Sips from Every Realm. Suddenly, Yggdrasil could absorb energy from both the ground and the sky with this Transcendent Rarity Skill.

Finally, Randidly developed a useful countermeasure against force spikes. Using the Resonant Fangs to counter them directly was possible, but they first needed to gather up enough kinetic force to unleash their special ability. As more and more force spikes came down at once, using the fangs was no longer feasible. Instead, Randidly used some of the radiation effects of the Stillborn Phoenix to defend the edge of the storm. But when that effect was insufficient-

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Hierarchy of Burden has grown to Level 40!

Randidly released a hissing breath and deactivated the Fatepiece. His seared organs and twitching body could finally relax. He felt some excitement that he had already reached a new layer of the Fatepiece, but he was also viscerally pleased that he managed to weaponize this obnoxious burden.

Since the natural energy and Nether used Randidly’s body as the hub, the radiation ‘drag’ of the Fatepiece could be incorporated just like the image physicalizations could be. So the vicious electromagnetic and light radiation became the shield to break down the force spikes before they even struck.

Ideally, those forces will be perfectly mimicked by the Stillborn Phoenix, which is a similar rift in the fabric of space, Randidly thought as he closed his eyes. But my ability to reproduce that with image isn’t quite there yet. For now, cheating with the Fatepiece is plenty enough to advance through this mountain.

Influence +205!

Randidly tilted his head to the side and sensed the surroundings. WIth how the restriction is creeping up toward 50%... I have quite a bit of time here. A week or so? A grin spread across his face. Plenty of time to study the bone charm closely. If I can activate the other four enhancement rituals to create more Nether Weight… the Fifth Step will have no chance of stopping me from reaching the Summit.

*****

Number Four watched the award ceremony with a bland smile on his face. Unlike the others, who faked smiles to hide their boredom, he did it to hide his anticipation. Despite the solemn atmosphere, his stomach did flips. He held quite a bit of excitement toward the end of this ceremony. He had sent a message to set a trap. Now all that remained was to see whether his target bit.

Thirty-nine individuals had survived the vicious training camp. Perhaps because of what happened with Number One’s invitee, the head Disciple had been especially malicious; they needed to call the camp early because of how quickly the fatalities had occurred.

Considering the chaotic state in the Nexus right now, none of the powers that had sent representatives to the training camp were happy to hear about the deaths.

“In second place…” Number One droned on as he passed out the next plaque. The recipient bowed. Another Number that attended stifled a yawn. Now that the deaths had ceased, most of the core Disciples were ready to return to their own training after the brief break.

“Finally, your champion,” Number One supported himself with a cane to go toward the last individual. The woman bowed smoothly. “For winning, I will take you to the creator of the Grand Pattern, so you may witness his majesty and experience the core area. It is an excellent chance. You must cherish it.”

Number Four’s lip curled upward. Selfish prick. You just want an excuse to complain to Master about that toad you invited was targeted. Heh, I bet even your use of a cane is fake… well, I can’t complain too much. After all, much of what I learned about surviving from this place I gathered from watching you.

But your time is running out, old man.

“I could not rival any of you in terms of individual power,” The woman said as she straightened. She had tawny, golden hair and vivid, red-violet eyes. She showed a charming smile to the Disciples and other participants. “But when it comes to following a pattern and analyzing wonders, I’m very confident in myself.”

“Follow me-” Number One began to say, but then the doors to the hall banged open. Number Four raised his hands to cover his grin. His eyes curved into tiny crescents. Such timing!

The sleepy-eyed Number Two looked around. His long brown hair was filled with cobwebs from prolonged stillness. Then he cleared his throat, clearly showing how long it would be since he had spoken. “It… would be inappropriate for you to take her. Since one of my disciples invited her, I should accompany her to visit Master.”

Number One’s expression turned red. It looked like his blood pressure rose so quickly that his face would inflate and pop.