“After receiving your most recent experiment,” Daniel leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers like the villain in a spy movie. He was currently trying his hand at growing out a goatee and Sam believed it looked more wisp than hair but made the effect even more of a satire. “Mr. Ozark is quite pleased with the result; he told me that what they are really looking for are aspects that strengthen the use of images. If you can make one of those and provide it for them, they are willing to trade an Armament. With an emphasis of your choosing.”

Behind them, a child did cartwheels through the grassy field.

Sam raised the wine glass to his lips and sipped. Immediately, he grimaced; he just couldn’t bring himself to enjoy white wine. “Huh. Well, the unusual raw materials are nice… but what the hell is an Armament?”

“From the way Ozark said it, I didn’t want to sound foolish by asking.” Daniel winced and pressed his hair back. “I hoped you knew. I’ll send a message to Randidly to ask about it. But can you do it? Can you make equipment that benefits images?”

The duo sat at one end of a low-topped oak picnic table, their conversation covered up by the bubble of laughter and conversation from the other patrons at the winery. Now that the chill winter of the Calamity had passed, a blooming spring had come to Expira. Their table sat on the rolling green laws of Donnyton’s newest winery and right in front of them was the sprawling, grape-heavy trellis of the vineyard. The sun sank toward the horizon, its rays lengthening and darkening to orange and red.

At the other end of the table were Regina, Mrs. Hamilton, and Theodore, Mrs. Hamilton’s increasingly serious boyfriend. The three of them sampled the various, and damningly white, wine selections offered by the winery.

All of them enjoyed it.

Sam clicked his tongue while he watched a family play horseshoes off to the left. “Well, theoretically yea. I’ve done it before. It’s just usually not my focus because the process takes time. That sort of benefit needs to accumulate. But so long as we figure out the Armament is worth something, I’ll do it.”

“Excellent.” Daniel’s expression brightened. Then he produced an interspatial amulet and slid it across the table. A discrete bonus. “Oh, you’ll like this too. The materials provided are apparently from some alien being that had been mutated by cosmic radiation.”

*****

Randidly clicked his tongue as he considered his options. After sleeping for several hours, he recovered to his peak state. Now, he just had to decide how to proceed.

Claudette had already returned to her father’s estate to take care of some personal matters before the looming party in six days. Randidly briefly wondered whether the party would be postponed based on the state of the Nexus, he had heard from Lady Iellaya about the constant infighting, attacks, and the fact that a madwoman had essentially become the supreme czar of Military High Command, but it appeared that Don Beigon was not troubled by such developments. His celebration remained on the schedule.

As such, Randidly wouldn’t let it bother him either. He needed to be ready.

Still, that preparedness could take several forms. He could train his images with the Path of Dreams. He could figure out how his attainments with energy ripples could be incorporated into his fighting style, now that he had returned to the Nexus, where images weren’t suppressed to the point of uselessness. And he could also investigate the process of evolving his Nether Core to the next Rarity and generating more Weight.

Beyond those more training aimed activities, Randidly needed to gather up the Vulpine Squad, talk with Edraine and Lucretia about the Patrons now loose in Expira, and also respond to this dinner invitation from Nrorce. Each of these required varying degrees of timeliness.

Randidly reached up and rubbed his forehead. I’ve gathered power for so long to achieve a certain amount of independence from the System, but in the end what really happens is I need to make more and more choices that seem innocuous, but will likely have serious consequences down the line.

Without a constant threat, I have to make preparations without knowing when the next ax will fall.

Perhaps he should even throw in the option to enter the shaft and train more, but even after several hours of sleep, Randidly felt quite tepid about that option. It was time to walk in the Nexus and face his foes.

His hands tightened into fists. “Wick, I wonder how much distance I’ve closed, learning on that Mountain? Can I catch you yet?”

Saying those words out loud finally crystallized his current goals for Randidly; he needed to take this opportunity to solidify the gains from the Mountain. In addition, he should take advantage of the chance to evolve his Nether Core and grow his own power. If the encounter with Devick and the Master had taught him nothing else, it was that you never knew what life might throw at you.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He might be able to accumulate more Influence eventually, but Wick was breathing down his neck now. The Commandant had been laying low, but Randidly knew that when he defended Claudette at the Don’s party, the ego-centric Wick would not turn a blind eye.

And if he believed he was being slighted, he would exact a price. At that time, Randidly planned on having all of his subordinates within the Alpha Cosmos, beyond the bearman’s greedy reach.

Randidly nodded and produced his Philosopher’s Key. Then he paused and replied to Nrorce’s dinner invitation that he would be there in a few hours. Part of it was curiosity, but also part of it was the sacrifice Nrorce had made to help Randidly. Without that hunk of Aetherium from his daughter, who knew how long it would have taken Randidly to recover? Despite how they had last parted, he owned the goblin that much.

Randidly then appeared in the shadowy interior of the shaft, although not so deeply that time was vastly different from the Nexus proper. He spread his arms wide and allowed his three creations to finally explode from his body.

Emotion and shape billowed out in a swirling typhoon of force. Then it crystallized into his varied images.

First came Yggdrasil, releasing powerful rumbles as the refined image exploded both up and down. The massive, pitted bark became a brown monolith, so large that by standing in front of it, it was impossible to comprehend its size. Emerald leaves multiplied infinitely at the top of the canopy, practically sealing the shaft shut. Powerful Aureate Arteries ran through the entirety of the image, and both the infinite roots and long, leaf-covered branches sipped at the energy in the surroundings, filling it with vitality.

That invigorating force pulsed slowly, like a heartbeat. The previous energy in Yggdrasil had been much depleted by its several evolutions inside the mountain. Randidly estimated he would need to spend a bit more time accumulating before those transformations would be complete.

Then came the Stillborn Phoenix, howling and hungry, taking advantage of Yggdrasil blocked the flow of emotions to slurp everything into its maw. The crackling, oddly luminous area beyond the event horizon supported the pure, lightless absence at its center. In terms of size, the Egg of Depression was definitely growing. And now two haunting slugs swam lazily through the exterior energy storm, their warped faces eyes the surroundings suspiciously, their sharp fingers constantly spasming with a barely concealed desire to rip and take.

I really need to consider whether this image makes me a villain, Randidly hid a smile after examining his second image. I definitely think I could inspire nightmares by revealing this image in front of children.

Finally, his third image appeared, manifesting directly in front of his body. The being was not human, but took a humanoid shape, even while powerful energies had completely evolved the interior beyond the physical limits of its original species. With Randidly’s face, it turned and looked at him, almost sadly. Its left arm was bulkier and armored while its right seemed more graceful and deadly. Determination glittered in its eyes.

The emotions around the Grey Creature began to seeth as all the bottledup fury and indignation Randidly experienced in his time under the thumb of the System came to the surface. The air warped and popped, destabilized to the point of implosion by the vehemency with which the Grey Creature wished to tear down the edifice above them. It released a hissing, misty breath.

Someday, Randidly closed his eyes. Someday.

When he opened his eyes, Randidly’s three images floated down and superimposed themselves on his body. With all three of his images operating at full force, he began to look at the surroundings. His lip curled upward at the dense network of ripples that rebounded endlessly off each other, fueled by the existence of three powerful images, even working in concert.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko (T) has grown to Level 603!

Congratulations! Your Skill Philosophy of the Boundless Deluge (M) has grown to Level 585!

If the ripples are this dense with just me activating my images, Randidly thought with glittering eyes. He looked down at his hands, where natural force already had begun to accumulate. The barest hint of a maelstrom swirled around his person, naturally forming as energy seeped into the subconscious patterns he manifested. What can I achieve in a fight? Or on a battlefield, like I had when the Swacc Family assaulted those Pinnacle Seekers?

If I had another chance, I could have directly annihilated that being possessing Techetadore…

However, Randidly pushed the speculation out of his mind. He activated several of his more powerful Skills, pushing them to the fullest and then noting what effects they had on the energy ripples.

Steadily, he consolidated his understanding of his Moirae of Ripples Skillset.

Put simply, it generally functioned as a support to the more powerful attacks that his images could unleash. He could utilize Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko freely, to improve his spear usage. His understanding of energy and ripples also reduced drag on other attacks. To his surprise, this bonus was surprisingly high: he received perhaps a 50% increase in raw power just from manipulating the patterns in the air into more agreeable shapes.

At the same time, the Skillset provided two steadily accumulating passive abilities. First, the three related Skills from the images rapidly gathered energy to create a force maelstrom around Randidly’s person. Obviously, this wouldn’t stop a truly powerful energy opponent, but weaker opponents would he effortlessly dominated once it gathered momentum, and foes of Randidly’s power would be restricted by the swirling force.

Secondly, the energy maelstrom functioned as a growing bank of power that Randidly could unleash in a potent blast, as he had once done previously. He didn’t dare experiment with how far he could push this, considering the power it had displayed and the lack of a battlefield to pull from, but his understanding of utilizing energy meant that he could channel a much larger amount of power.

“Alright,” Randidly said with a grin as he let his images die. “Time to head to a dinner.”