The eight shades congregated in the corner of the platform, talking excitedly with each other. Their positive emotions were quite conspicuous on the battlefield surrounded by mist. Because this area had none of the environmental obstructions of the other platforms, their voices echoed across the whole arena.

“Ah, perhaps finally my disciple will be defeated here? Still, his potential is immense to reach the ninth guardian.”

“Haaah, you never seem to learn. How can this challenger be your disciple? Any other guardian could flatten you to a detestable pancake… Why must this continue? Even your words can torture me…”

“Stop bickering and pay attention to this confrontation. Perhaps we will be able to intuit some new secrets of the Grand Pattern by watching their movements..”

“Ugh, you training fanatics are the worst. Let’s just have some fun since we can wander around a bit. When was the last time we could gather like this? Who wants to play some tarot with me?”

“We have no tarot deck.”

“We can ask the challenger-”

“Isn’t my disciple busy?!? Don’t you dare distract him from his fight. Or rather, our fight for proper recognition-”

“Hmph, what are you going to stop us? Go back down to the base of the staircase, weakling. Before I crush you.”

“How DARE-”

Randidly made the executive decision to ignore any further bickering from his shadow entourage. He sealed his ears and simply focused on the energy around him. Besides, he had more troublesome issues to handle.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Congratulations! Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko (T) has grown to Level 601!

Gritting his teeth, Randidly attempted to disperse his momentum as he skidded back away from the point of impact. He feet dragged across the ground and sent pebbles skidding. Natural energy swirled around him in a massive maelstrom, crackling with electromagnetic discharge and mysterious light. At this point, on the ninth platform of the Fifth Step, he could not afford to hold anything back.

With a pinch of his Focus, Nether guided those chaotic energy flows back around to his body to empower himself. He exploded forward, utilizing a trick he had learned from one of the other guardians to create a slipstream around his body. A drill of air and Nether curled around Acri’s point as he thrust the weapon toward the shade in front of him.

The shade was short and skeletally skinny, with frizzy hair that careened in every direction from his head and hung down to cover his face. But when he raised his hands, he held four dangerous needles of force between his fingers.

Congratulations! Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge (M) has grown to Level 572!

That’s how he’s doing it, Randidly narrowed his eyes. Rather than mimicking the shapes of the Grand Pattern, this fellow has somehow managed to control force spikes. And the power that he can wield-

Acri cut inward at the shade’s waist, but it flicked out a single force needle to impact the weapon. The distance was so short that not even Randidly could alter his trajectory in time. As soon as the needle encountered Acri’s shaft, it rapidly expanded in an overwhelming show of force that shoved him back.

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 499!

Congratulations! Your Skill Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil (T) has grown to Level 535!

Randidly’s powerful body handled most of the destructive impact, but the physical restrictions were becoming frustrating; at this point, 77% of his physical Stats were restricted by the Mountain. He could only gnash his teeth and skid backward once more.

The shade activated a strange movement art based on the Grand Pattern and vanished. Perhaps if Randidly could spread out his image he could follow the being’s presence, but with just Grim Intuition he lost the skinny shade. He gathered himself and his storm into a tighter spin around his position, rapidly gathering momentum as it absorbed force from his unbridled Nether Core. Randidly licked his lips and then absorbed more ripples of natural energy from the surroundings.

Congratulations! Your Skill the World Tree Sips from Every Realm (T) has grown to Level 505!

Randidly’s mind churned through dozens of calculations in a short amount of time. He felt himself on the cusp of something profound. During the last three months, I’ve steadily climbed these damned stairs and faced the guardians on the platforms. Each of them seemed to have a unique application of the Grand Pattern, until this one. Rather than using the Grand Pattern for any specific goal-

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Jerking to the side, Randidly avoided a force needled that shot toward his lower back. He twisted around and used several sharp steps to arrive in front of the skinny shade, who was already attempting to use that mysterious Skill to vanish once more. Randidly didn’t have enough time to bring Acri around, but his hand ripped forward. A rotating typhoon formed around Randidly’s arm, but the shade produced another force needle to flick at the blow.

Congratulations! Your Skill Tempest Drill (A) has grown to Level 421!

Randidly felt somewhat aggrieved as the impact force him backward again. The shade vanished, but his mind continued to hum. -rather than manipulating any particular aspect of the Grand Pattern, this guardian manipulates the whole directly. Or to put it another way, he can make his own pattern. Which confirms an early theory I had: In the end, the methodology of the Grand Pattern doesn’t hold truths about the world that let you control the elements, but ways to efficiently conserve and transfer energy.

When that influence is spread out over a large area, any normal arrangement can become Grand. Then, if I reach out-

Randidly’s head snapped up to the shade, who threw down five force needles at once. They spread out into a cluster that hemmed in Randidly’s restricted physical response. His pupils tightened as he watched those force needles travel through the air. If I can’t dodge, do you think I won’t have the confidence to step forward? Besides, if I catch up to you, I think I’ll finally understand your method.

His toes curled up against the ground and he took several aggressive steps forward. When he planted his foot, Randidly blasted upward and cut between the force needles, arriving next to the shade in a split second.

Shadows condensed around his left eye as his image physicalizations flared. He had let the physicalizations lapse while challenging most of the other guardians because he wanted to compete with them with solely the Grand Pattern Skills. However, now Randidly understood that the basic Skills were just the beginning.

His face was only a few inches away from the shade, who jerked back. The movement was almost in slow motion in Randidly’s eyes. He grinned because he could already taste the particular flavor of pattern around the shade and trace it outward. Let’s see who has a better understanding of influence.

A deluge of energy surged outward from Randidly’s body, carrying with it crimson bolts of electricity and following the organic arrangement of Nether. His senses strained to the limit, touching on all of the myriad forces flowing through the surrounding platform. With the glimpse he got of the shade’s pattern from feeling it press against his skin, he could expand his awareness even further.

He pushed his Grim Intuition to the limit, feeling the small imperfections in the air. More energy than he could comprehend filled the surrounding area, congregating around the two fighters, but also swirling in the uninhabited areas as well. The more he looked and traced the connections outward, the more he felt mental strain building up, but he refused to look away.

The more a complicated work of art glittered around him.

For a few moments, time seemed to stand still. Everything became energy. The details of the surroundings vanished, their shape fading. Instead, Randidly could read their energy. He could even see the swirling efforts of the thin shade in front of him to disappear.

Everything was laid bare. And once he witnessed the whole of the environment, something clicked into place in his mind.

Randidly’s heartbeat quickened. This is why images are suppressed here. Not because the power of the Grand Pattern suffers no competition, but the ultimate goal of this obnoxious place is understanding. Of witnessing this vast interaction. Images ultimately are a cheat; you accomplish a goal by relying on a mental manifestation of energy that doesn’t need to be restricted by inputs and outputs. Shape and emotion are enough to make up the difference. Witnessing this majesty requires too much work, too much suffering, compared to the alternative. But once you’ve seen it-

An instinctual understanding of energy flows began to bud in Randidly’s subconscious. It didn’t manifest a Skill, but somehow he could feel the barest possibility of how the Nether King could wield such power.

Of course, there was a cost. The mental strain became a throbbing, physical headache that quickly began to congregate around Randidly’s left eye. The warping of the Stillborn Phoenix quickly grew stronger, the darkness spreading to cover a larger portion of his face.

As the pain became agonizing, the sensation of being frozen finally shattered. The shade whipped backward, its body steadily being obscured by the flows of energy it manipulated. For a second, Randidly stalled, then he once more found his momentum. His arms tore forward, bearing whirlwinds of vicious force.

Now that I’ve seen your pattern, you can’t just screen my gaze any longer, Randidly pounced downward.

His palm strikes impacted the obscuring energy flows and ripped through them, revealing the guardian wearing a look of shock on his face. But of course, he was still a powerful warrior. He righted his stance and tossed two force needles at Randidly.

The headache worsened as the agony seemed to crystalize into a dagger wiggling into the back of his left eye, but Randidly could even see the patterns the shade used to create the force spikes. It would take a while to get his Skill Level to the requisite power, but he could mimic the technique.

The force in the surroundings seethed and pulsed in constant motion. Randidly was so close. If he could have more time to study-

However, he ignored that possibility for now. Because he might not know the finer points, but he had plenty of experience manifesting his own patterns and exerting his will. Randidly reached into the surrounding space and forced the two force needles apart, so they shot on either side of him. Then he crossed the last bit of distance and impacted the core of focus that the shade used to control the surrounding pattern.

Randidly’s attack slammed the guardian into the ground. The other watching shades fell silent. In the same instant, a notification popped up and pain around his eye began to ease.

Congratulations! Your Skill Tide of the Void (L) is reacting!

Recalculating…

Congratulations! Your Skill Tide of the Void (L) has evolved into Breath of the Cosmos (T)! Skill Level will be maintained.