Raymund Ballast’s eyes swept sideways along the line of recruits as they stood on the beach. The constant drizzle and the lapping waves at the back of their heels made it sure they were dripping with moisture. In the face of the inclement weather, they stared stubbornly forward.

However, he felt immense dissatisfaction as he cleared his throat. “Now, when the Ghosthound came to me to inquire about us, I told him that the Vulpis Squad wouldn’t be interested in joining the All Alpha Cosmos Tournament. That there would be no point in sharpening our edges against fighters that had so much less time to acclimate to images and weren’t professional soldiers but only enthusiastic amateurs. However, it’s come to my attention that certain members of our Squad-”

He glared at Charlotte Wick, but the bear woman didn’t even blink.

“-have gone behind my back made quite a case to Tatiana, who has passed the word on to the Ghosthound. And, in his generosity, he doesn’t care if we debase ourselves by humiliating those far beneath our power. Still, I don’t think it is quite appropriate for a professional special forces organization to run without limits.” Raymund Ballast folded his arms. “So I’ve made some rules. First, only four of the group will earn the right to participate. Second, the bracket will be adjusted so all four will need to fight each other before the round of 8, so only a single member of the Vulpis Squad will bear the shame-” Raymund’s lip curled up as he saw other soldiers whispering to each other in excitement. “-for our foolishness. For learning with their body the price of hubris.”

The eyes of the soldiers gleamed; it was clear that his words were not getting through to them. He glanced sideways at DiOrtho. The ram demon shrugged and communicated nonverbally with only a soft crinkling at the corner of his eyes.

Don’t you want a chance to take a shot at the Ghosthound?

Raymund sent his message back with his pursed lips. Do as you wish. It’s your funeral.

*****

Randidly pressed his fingertips to his temples and wished he could utilize a bit of Claudette’s image. Steam swam up from his neck and shoulders, while heat waves danced above his short black hair. Before he could continue with his training, he had to make some adjustments.

Randidly had obtained almost five hundred free Stats during his earlier blitzkrieg through his Paths, which he now poured into Unnatural Capacity; his Runic Rarity evolved Wisdom was critical to his new perspective-altering Nether pursuits. And hopefully, increasing his Stats would help equip him to handle the strain of reworking his thought processes.

Adding that many Stats at once carried with it a singular moment of explosive satisfaction, as though a grainy filter had been pulled away from life and the truths of Nether laid bare and crisp before him. His brain gradually cooled, falling back below temperatures that would cook an egg. Randidly grinned, rolled his shoulders, and then once more closed his eyes and dived down into that place where he examined the way Nether flowed.

Five minutes later, his headache returned and sweat dripped down off his brow. He sighed slightly. Well, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. I’m trying to understand the underpinnings of the world. There is no easy answer.

Despite the growing pains, Randidly definitely had made great progress in his understanding of Nether over the past two weeks. Small insights into the way the layered Nether affected each other led to small steps forward in the efficiency and construction of his Nether Rituals. However, the abrupt and catastrophic collapse of his Nether Systems when the wrong instincts kicked in at the wrong time continued to be a problem. Randidly treated the shifts in perspective with immense care, even as he experimented with other ways of viewing Nether, but eliminating all possibilities of failure was maddeningly difficult.

New, intermittent bolts of black lightning crackled through the Nether storm above his island. His organic systems became more sophisticated, but the occasional grinding mistake in Nether flows meant that the tension over the island only grew more intense.

Underneath these heavy clouds, almost a thousand warriors continued their vigorous training.

Sometimes, Randidly would pause in his pursuit of Nether understanding and look to the South, where crews from Kharon created an island from nothing. They put the arena beyond the edges of the storm so that the work crews could lay concrete and throw up steel beams without worrying about the constant rain seeping into the foundation.

At this point, several wide duel grounds had been erected, with larger outdoor mall-style hubs connecting them. According to Tatiana, these would all become markets, because quite a few investors wanted to set up permanent shops on the location of the All Alpha Cosmos tournament.

Tatiana had asked Randidly whether he would be interested in looking at Vampiric Al Paca fur sweaters in a high-end boutique between matches. He had assumed she had been joking. The sly look in her eyes eventually made her realize that she had not been.

For me, a small whim. Yet the amount of significance moving in the air because of it… Randidly flexed his hands. Curling lines of invigorating energy flowed out from his Fourth Authority, radiating in a sunburst from his Nether Core and continuing to push growth in his island. Gradually, he began to incorporate those flows into the broader Nether storm, but the stitching was still loose; he learned too much too quickly to bind himself tightly together.

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A twitch in Randidly’s Soulspace caused his focus to waver and Randidly groaned. One unfortunate side effect of the tournament was that one of his recently evolved Skills, Spirit Realm of Marshaled Endeavors, was being absolutely bludgeoned by people of legitimate clout. Kayle, Paolo, and Tykes in particular were vigorously polishing their image by fighting against the spectral projections that Randidly’s subconscious created. They had no shame in challenging themselves, over and over again.

On the one hand, he understood their impulse; it was pretty rare to be able to fight against a foe at the power of even a portion of Randidly’s subconscious, especially in an area where they didn’t need to worry about collateral damage. On the other hand-

Congratulations! Your Skill Spirit Realm of Marshaled Endeavors (M) has grown to Level 752!

One of his projections was popped by a direct blow from Tykes. Randidly groaned and released the tight hold he maintained on his Nether streams. The Nether Ritual he had been attempting fizzled and fell to pieces. He reached up and rubbed his head; at this point, Randidly’s abilities and Skills were so large that he didn’t even really need to do anything for them to activate- the Alpha Cosmos hummed forward even without conscious action from the guiding brain.

Congratulations! Your Skill Armory of the Nether Damned (L) has grown to Level 301!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Animus Diffraction (M)(U) has grown to Level 231!

He earned Skill Levels almost passively, steadily increasing the amount of PP he could access.

Randidly scratched his chin, looking out at the constant movement of the ocean around his island to try and give his strained senses a break. Then his eyes followed the air currents out into the atmosphere around Expira, churning the whole of the world. A breeze curled a wave, that followed a grand current, that was part of a gathering storm in a system of water and air and heat.

Randidly could closely feel how sticky everything was- people wanted very badly to believe that there were discrete causes and effects, but the world was much murkier than that. Pressing his eyes closed, he tried not to consider too deeply what that meant about his own free will, now that he was the Alpha Cosmos. A few million lives buzzed around inside him, drawing on his energy and conferring with his significance.

However, it was due to that sudden downturn in Randidly’s mood that he noticed the slightest pulse moving outward through the air currents. His eyes snapped open, emerald irises burning at the unexpected phenomenon. Within a few seconds, he tracked the origin to the Nether Ritual that spun in the core of Expira. It operated with such intensity that it released a low physical tremor-

Randidly blinked. The Nether Ritual wasn’t just rumbling- what he heard and felt was a heartbeat.

All he had to do was look. Because once his attention sank into the Nether Ritual, he felt the way it had shifted as it developed. The core areas were still the same, humming with significance that traveled back and forth between the various planets in the Alpha Cosmos. In addition, there was a larger framework that gave a sense of connection and transmission that some users could utilize to draw more information about the situation.

Yet aside from that, a new active portion of the Nether Ritual had come online and released a beating pulse through the world. Randidly watched solemnly as significance was absorbed by these massive contractions. The Nether spun and tightened, pressurizing the gathered significance. As he watched, the Nether Ritualrefined the gathered energy into bits of Nether Weight.

The Nether Ritual is responding to the spirit of the Alpha Cosmos. It feels that so much significance is gathering for this tournament… and of its own volition, it now is attempting to generate a reward for the victor. Randidly pressed his lips together. Due to the vast amount of Nether being funneled into the tight space, it was difficult to get an idea of how much effect this would actually have. In the short time that Randidly watched the contractions, it failed almost as often as it succeeded as the framework contracted and squeezed. And its successes were just little glimmering grains of grey flames, far from even a single point of Randidly’s Nether Weight.

However, at this rate, a lot would accumulate and be given to the victor. Randidly rubbed his chin, considering how a 5% increase in abilities given by the world would affect the balance of power on Expira and the other planets.

“Pah. Well, probably not as much as if Sam makes an amazing weapon,” Randidly muttered to himself. Then he grinned and looked to the Northeast. Even now, Sam was tirelessly hammering away at metal, trying to finish all the requests that he had accepted in advance of the tournament. Dozens of people wanted an advantage by obtaining a cutting-edge weapon, even if it mattered less than their own ability.

Randidly produced his Philosopher’s Key and opened up a portal to Tatiana’s office. As he had sensed, she sat at her desk and tirelessly wrote down notes and checked on other communications. She didn’t even look up from her papers as he walked over to the far cabinet and poured himself a drink. “Tomorrow is going to be a big day. You don’t need to be present for the preliminaries, but it would be helpful if you didn’t cause any… large-scale disturbances.”

Randidly waved his hand dismissively.

Tatiana sighed. “Okay, let’s not beat around the bush. I have my Skill, so I know that you are here for a reason. What do you want?”

Randidly sipped the drink and then grimaced; he had no idea why Tatiana adored the peat-tasting specialty whiskey that came out of Donnyton. He set the glass mouth and opened his mouth to say he had no idea what she was talking about, but suddenly he knew why he had come here. His shoulders slumped somewhat. “Am I… doing the right thing?”

Tatiana looked at him without judgment for several seconds. Some part of Randidly wanted to add a bit more specificity to the ask because even to him he sounded vague. Yet he couldn’t. Certainly, a portion of this question came from the details of Missy Carp’s trial percolating in him while he engaged in intensive training. But it was so much more than that.

He had made a lot of mistakes. He had let thousands die when he could have protected them. He had followed a whim to create this massive Nether Ritual, which now began to evolve in ways that bewildered him. He because a passive presence in the Alpha Cosmos, where he grew without him even taking a step forward. He felt curiously disassociated from himself.

“Well, no,” Tatiana cleared her throat. “But you are human and you’ve been consistent. You reflect on your mistakes. That’s all we can ask of anybody.”

Randidly almost snorted, to be called a human, but decided not to point out the error. Despite the accuracy, it felt nice to hear. After staring at the amber liquid for a while longer, he looked up and smiled at Tatiana. “So, tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Tatiana took their conversation shift in stride, answering with a long groan. “My work gets that much harder. Tomorrow, the preliminaries begin. The greatest warriors from other worlds will begin pouring into Expira. God help us all.”