A dark and hollow crash of thunder cracked across the island, forcing a wince from even Raymund Ballast as the force of its arrival shook every being unfortunate enough to be existence below the Ghosthound. The foxman waved a hand and deactivated the gravity chamber around him. Then he left the Engraved area and looked up toward the central volcano.

A massive spearhead hung in the air, as though it had been thrust down through the eye of the storm to smite the island from existence.

For several long moments, Raymund’s body just ached. The glittering weapon of obsidian and razor-edged shadows hung in the air above the Ghosthound’s training area, lingering after whatever demonstration had just occurred. But even as that manifestation began to fracture and come to pieces, the ache had remained. The Ghosthound had done something with a vicious brutality that Raymund had rarely witnessed from him.

He shivered, an echo of fear toward the strike. Toward what the strike might have done, in another location. The ache Raymund now felt resulted from him absorbing some small portion of that force.

The Ghosthound had gone all out, using the cultivated environment of the island and the images of the many trainees here to muffle the disastrous reverberations. Otherwise, the repercussions might have echoed out and wiped out a dozen small seafaring villages in the surrounding area.

DiOrtho Vant, a sour expression pasted on his face, walked across the beach to stand next to the Vulpine. Soon, the ram demon couldn’t stand the silence any longer and shook his horned head. “Did you feel that?”

“Who didn’t? Such a display-” Raymund began, but DiOrtho began to shake his head with even more force.

“Not that, obviously. Heh, I bet some of the Zones are going to receive word of the force displayed here and piss their tiny pants. No, the things that occurred before that. The Ghosthound exhaled and brought… something into himself that originated from us. That strange sensitivity that we gained a year ago made it abundantly clear. You could feel the relationship between us and him, for a brief moment. He drew essence from us. A subtle draw of Aether and Nether.”

Raymund nodded more slowly, his eyes searching for any actual sign of the Ghosthound below the dispersing spearhead. The storm clouds continued to churn. Usually, it was easy for Raymund to forget how much power the special Drill Sergeant possessed.

And sometimes, this black-haired man shattered the skies and drummed against all their significance.

“Obviously we are more sensitive than most individuals,” DiOrtho continued. Raymund finally recognized how serious Vant’s expression was. “But still. As long as you’ve put a little effort into that intuition, you would be able to understand the mechanism of what happened. And we don’t mind… but will everyone in his world be fine with knowing that the Ghosthound takes from us all? No matter how small a cut he pulls.”

Slowly, Raymund’s expression changed into a frown. Above, the storm rumbled.

*****

Randidly took a while to savor the sensation of explosive power in the aftermath of flexing his Synechdochence. His Nether Core slowed, trailing long flows of shadow. He suspected that this wasn’t even his limit; with some dedicated training, he could push that number up to 130%. The combinations of his greater pattern recognition and the growing depth to his Nether meant that the raw power he could display had reached a whole new level.

His hammer had grown, almost without him realizing it.

Of course, it doesn’t get around a powerful image dispersing the environment as quickly as I can make it. But its progress. With a ghost of a smile on his face, Randidly went back to his Path screen. The number caught his eye once again: he had very nearly three hundred thousand PP to spend.

He released a breath and shook away that big number. He just started with just a fistful of five thousand, which he used to finish the Stat Evolution IV Path.

Congratulations! You have completed the Stat Evolution IV Path! Your body has withstood the trials of the System, being influenced and changed by the energy that flows around through the world. As you continue to evolve your Stats, you are taking steps toward becoming a higher being, with the potential to alter the fate of the Nexus itself. Pursue that Path as you advance.

Calculating…

Congratulations! You have unlocked a Rare Rarity Stat! Please select a Stat to evolve!

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Randidly immediately groaned. He raised a hand and rubbed his brow, still somewhat drained from proceeding straight from manipulating Nether and getting the last Skill Level to manipulating Nether and creating such a decisive strike with his Synechdochence. But the prospect of just evolving his Endurance to Rare didn’t appetize him much. After all, how much difference would Rare make?

Entropy’s hunger was not easily satisfied.

He still had quite a few basic Stats: Endurance, Reaction, Resistance, Willpower, and Intelligence. Several options to evolve that would be at least useful. Honestly, even more than the current crusade to improve his physical body to counter entropy, Willpower was probably the Stat he relied on most often. So he wouldn’t apply the evolution to that Stat.

Randidly felt like Intelligence was also too involved in his current projects to waste on Rarity. And when picking between Reaction and Resistance, he didn’t mind allowing Resistance to become whatever the Nexus willed. So he went into his Stat screen and initiated the evolution.

Congratulations! Your Stat Resistance has evolved into Chimeric Indifference (R)! A smaller portion of physical damage will also be ignored by the Stat. User can more easily escape restrictive effects. The longer you are affected by a Skill or image, the more effective your Chimeric Indifference will become. Stat total will be maintained!

Randidly’s skin began to it and burn. A wave of Aether swirled around in his chest, gathering up notes from the Grey Creature image before seeping out into his limbs. An inferno raged across his skin, toughening up his body and adding a little bit of extra indifference to outside influences. His pores opened and breathed, becoming tiny independent entities, united in their resistance to foreign influences.

However, the feeling quickly settled; it wasn’t that monumental of a switch. Randidly turned to his Path screen and his expression turned rather sour at the Path cost abruptly rising to 25,000 instead of 10,000. What the hell is this? Did the Nexus hear I recently came into a flood of PP and are upping their prices? PP inflation?

Still, it was difficult to care that much, considering how huge a haul that Randidly had earned. He spent the PP to finish the Path, earning a free Stat for each 50 PP spent.

Congratulations! You have completed the Stat Evolution V Path! As you continue to take steps toward that transformed version of yourself, the Path grows steeper. Continued evolutions will not be cheap. Yet once all of the Stats have shifted, a special award will be waiting for you.

Calculating…

Congratulations! You have unlocked a Transcendent Rarity Stat!

Randidly’s lips twitched. ...and I feel like this reward is a little too ritzy for Endurance. If I have such a high-quality Rarity…

Congratulations! Your Skill the Grey Creature Glimpses Providence (P) has grown to Level 673!

Even before he completed the Path, Randidly felt a tingle of what was to come.

Congratulations! Your Stat Willpower has evolved into Grey Monarch’s Authority (T)! For those who bear a heavy crown, a finger twitch becomes a vicious act of war. The flexibility and application of your Grey Monarch’s Authority is greatly increased. The raw power of your consciousness can achieve some small effects in the physical world, without the usage of an image or Skill. Subordinates who are acting out your orders will receive a portion of your new benefits. Your Stat total will be maintained.

Aether began to gather in Randidly’s chest as a part of his capability changed. But this process didn’t build up and expend itself quickly. Thick spurts of Nether flowed along with the touch of the Grey Creature to form a dense core. Yet even after the maelstrom had stabilized itself, the initiation process wasn’t finished. The shadow of Yggdrasil, the First Authority, surged all at once, shaking his entire body with its passage.

The long, shadowy branches curled around that core that would add character and capability to the new Stat. Those fingers stained it. Then the core exploded, ripping its way through Randidly’s body. And if the evolution of Resistance set his skin on fire, the evolution of Willpower to Transcendent cut off all of his nerve endings and left him swimming in a horrifying numbness.

He felt nothing. He floated in darkness. Vision, sound, taste, smell, touch… all of it was gone.

The absence made him uneasy.

As the outside world fell away and left him without any external awareness, Randidly sat with himself. He felt the weight of his own body, of his own ideas, of his own mind. He could feel the figuratively steaming machinery of his mind, heat and ferocity wafting off of its glittering gears and pistons even while it lay mostly inert. He felt the influence he possessed, as the physical body of the Alpha Cosmos, the Authority that he slowly discovered as he pushed his Nether Core past every other individual remaining in the Nexus.

Well, aside from the Nether King. But Randidly suspected that individual was rather special.

He could only examine himself, the unease growing. Feeling the shape and scope of her person, Randidly could only acknowledge how far he was from being a person.

Eventually, awareness began to return; Randidly regretted his small fear toward the blank senselessness when pain ripped him awake and left him gasping. He lay on his back and trembled, all those severed nerves reconnecting with all the grace of a hungry toddler.

Panting, Randidly pushed himself up into a sitting position. Compared to the shift in Resistance, he could feel the adjustment in capability much more concretely with this shift toward a Transcendent Rarity. Still, for now, Randidly didn’t try to test his limits. He simply opened up the Path screen and grimaced at the escalating cost to 50,000 PP. He made a promise to himself that this would be his last attempt to evolve Endurance. If this failed, he could try and force an evolution the old-fashioned way.

Congratulations! You have completed the Stat Evolution VI Path! No matter how steep the climb, you refuse to slow your advance toward a complete metamorphosis. So long as you do not falter, you will eventually accomplish your goal.

Recalculating!

Congratulations! You have unlocked a Legendary Rarity Stat!

Randidly grinned. “Alright, that’s more like it.”