The strained silence in the back room at B’s Crossing lasted for almost thirty seconds as the two considered one another.

To Randidly’s relief, she didn’t require as much of an explanation as he thought; when he volunteered that he was a friend of Nrorce, Bethyl laughed and shivered simultaneously, showing that the small goblin had established a firm position in the restaurant. That was all the explanation she needed.

They then sat in an awkward silence. She made some attempts to restart her work on the financial statements in front of her, but it was clear she was too distracted by Randidly’s presence ot focus. Meanwhile, Randidly would have preferred to leave but didn’t want to go without getting his meal. The smells seeping in from the kitchen acted as an anchor, wedging him here for the foreseeable future.

Maybe Nrorce is right about me being selfish. His mouth twitched slightly.

Still, the heavy silence was starting to unnerve him, mostly because he had come here for a break, not for additional mental stress piled on top of the work he was doing for the tournament. So Randidly cleared his throat and attempted to make conversation. He felt profoundly out of his element. “So, I know that… much of the reason your ingredients are so high quality is because of a young boy. How is he doing? Handling the work alright?”

“Boy?” Bethyl seemed genuinely bewildered. Then, slowly, a wry chuckle escaped her mouth. “Is Nrorce still calling her a boy? You must be talking about Randy. No, she’s a girl, even if a bit dirty and rough-and-tumble. She’s doing well. The changes around here have her a little stressed, but…” A cloud passed across the woman’s features. Her eyes flicked to the stacked piles of papers. “Well, we are all making adjustments as best as we can.”

Randidly nodded slowly. Some inner muscle about small talk seemed to have been activated in Bethyl, because she began asking Randidly polite questions about the tournament and its processes. Equally polite, he ignored the sense of awkwardness and answered. Still, the interaction felt restful.

What struck him about the exchange was the lack of awe in her face that had characterized his recent interactions. The simple questions were meaningless, but they were based in the moment and the two people who were present. Through them, Randidly walked out some of the numb haze of Nether usage that had clouded him.

His headache remained, but the sense of being muffled receded.

Eventually, Nrorce came into the break room with a massive tray of food. Crispy roast duck over pan-seared noodles forced a groan of pleasure out of Randidly, even before he brought them to his lips. The sweet buns that Nrorce provided for dessert were almost better, lightly and delightful. After a thoroughly satisfying experience, Randidly said goodbye to the two of them and then returned to his island.

He released a breath and conjured the dream. His Nether Core began to spin in anticipation. It was time to meet another batch of users.

Afterward, he collapsed for a long sleep. He woke up to his Nether Core gurgling like an infant who had eaten too much and had troubled digesting solid foods. Rubbing his hand on his collarbone, he straightened and checked the time.

He had slept for almost nineteen hours. He was quite glad he had told Tatiana to add an extra day break before the next round. But that didn’t mean he was free; the long time period meant that the borrowed Penance needed to be satiated. He slipped into that dreamless darkness, his thoughts evaporating.

When he returned to himself, he had just enough time to eat, shower again, and ponder Nether before the next batch of tournament matches began. He sat on his comfortable chair above the arena, phasing out the roar of the crowd and once more looking with his Nether awareness to follow the details of the fight. He studied the strange patterns, trying to find similarities between the times his instincts were incorrect.

His eyes never wavered from the flow of significance, even as the noise of the crowd rose and fell.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 902!

Congratulations! Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge (M) has grown to Level 828!

…yet he ended the round with no special insight. His accuracy appeared to be increasing, but not meaningfully; there were many impressions that still were bewilderingly incorrect. He narrowed his gaze and focused, only to find that the action was already done.

Just like that, only 512 participants remained. An emotionally exhausted Randidly returned to his room and meditated on Nether. Then he heightened his Fatepiece the Hierarchy of Burden, finally reaching the end of his battle against Entropy.

For a few moments, he felt a flash of satisfaction, but he knew he couldn’t proceed to the next layer without assistance from the Vulpis Squad. And they were too wrapped up in the tournament to do much. For now, he still could expose himself to entropy over a long period of time to grow-

Randidly blinked several times, finding himself standing at the edge of his floating skyisland. He swayed, the high winds rushing around his body. Clouds drifted past, a few lone wanders hovering over the vast sea. His gaze flicked left to the crouching form of Kharon and then directly forward a few miles, to Tournament Island in the distance. Both were brightly lit up despite the late hour.

He reached up and rubbed his eyes with his palm; he didn’t even remember walking over here; maybe he was more exhausted than he suspected.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Randidly returned to his room to sleep. When Tatiana woke him up several days later, he felt dread and anticipation stirring in his chest, around his strained Nether Core. Dread because the cycle would repeat over and over again for several more times, despite how drained Randidly felt. Anticipation because while he slept, his subconscious hadn’t stopped tinkering with his thoughts about Nether patterns and the momentum of history.

He didn’t have an answer, not yet. But it was the beginning of one.

During the process of dropping from 512 to 256, Randidly tested his theories with an obsessive dedication. Everything flowed through the limited framework of significance, so he could understand how the entire world functioned with it as its primary signifier. It occurred to him, halfway through the matches, that he essentially was utilizing the Visage of Obsession as the tournament continued, without the sharp downside of being unable to stop. Perhaps after two previous utilizations, his brain had naturally incorporated the methodology into his training.

Still, some of these fights began to grab Randidly’s attention for more practical reasons. With only five hundred individuals remaining, some of Randidly’s acquaintances began to meet in hard matches.

Dinesh engaged in a furious match against a beady-eyed man who controlled a horde of rodents until the sheer press of bodies and the strange image utilized by the man overwhelmed him. The crowd chanted Rat King quite enthusiastically.

The strange Chimera woman released a baleful and overwhelmingly destructive image to suppress Clarissa into a surrender. A grey blade bisected a howling maelstrom, rewarding all those present with a light rainfall.

Huang Li sparred against the young man from Tellus who used Randidly’s Breath of the Spear Phantom. It was, perhaps, by about twenty minutes, the longest match of the round. In the end, Randidly couldn’t help but grin as the fellow Illdan moved like a ghost across the arena, eventually cornering Huang Li and shattering his unified image.

Finally, the matches had all been completed. Randidly rose, his mind spinning with possibilities as he returned to his island. However, most of him immediately was drawn toward the idea of more rest. For a time he meditated, staving off his emotional exhaustion to not miss any more clues, but then he turned his attention to the daunting prospect of conducting the exit interviews.

After filtering all the pained emotions and significance through his Nether Core, he once more felt like he teetered on the edge of shattering. He gratefully allowed his body’s demands to lead him to his bed.

Several hours later, Randidly opened his eyes to Tatiana sitting on the edge of his bed and studying him. Warm golden light filtered in through the window, revealing it to be morning. After a massive yawn, he complained. “I really wish you didn’t have to keep waking me up like this. I’m starting to feel guilty.”

“Are you punishing yourself, for some reason?” Tatiana ignored his words and scrunched her eyebrows together. When Randidly frowned in confusion, she continued. “Others might not be able to tell, but I can feel the mania in you, even while watching the tournament. You are training constantly. Not even training; it feels like you are trying to reforge your entire subconscious through sheer volume of information.”

Randidly’s mouth quirked in a grin as he considered his struggles to unlock the secrets of Nether pattern’s. Tatiana’s observation was actually quite astute. He scratched his head. “No punishment. Just trying to make the most of my time here.”

Tatiana’s face betrayed how little she believed him, but she didn’t push it. Together, they went back to Tournament Island and prepared for the next round. The battles to cut down to 128 had a desperate edge that meant that a portion of Randidly’s attention had to remain fixed on the action. The conflicts between images overcame the natural Nether currents he ran around the arena, threatening the audience.

Of course, even just the attention of Randidly’s First Authority was enough to eradicate those shockwaves. But it made his pursuit of Nether understanding that much more difficult. His accumulation of information slowed, much to his disappointment. With that bit of extra attention, he could observe the matches much more closely.

In the end, he was pretty impressed. Most of the warriors that made it this far at least possessed as much power as an average soldier that Randidly had seen working as guards in Military High Command.

The people of the Alpha Cosmos were growing. But that just made him even more aware of how much more they needed to improve to resist the Nexus.

Perhaps the youngest participant that had made it this far, Delilah, had the poor fortune of running up against DiOrtho Vant in this round. The ram demon gave her a platform to manifest her particular images and lash out with her most powerful Skills, but in the end it didn’t matter. Compared to Vant, who had honed his image fighting in the Nexus, Delilah was stuck on Expira and far too young.

Ghost, rolling around in a sleeker motorcycle-body that could fit on the stage, finally lost. The AI couldn’t quite rival its opponent. In the end, its drones were destroyed and it was forced to concede.

Meanwhile, some of the disguised participants were finally forced to reveal themselves based on the capabilities other competitors. One man from Zone 1 ripped his way out of his armor, revealing that he had some sort of specially made Manatech suit on underneath this whole time. With this specialty technology activated, he managed to overcome one of the lesser warriors from Tellus in a surprise win.

An ominous figure with a heavy image had his cloak blasted away: Randidly was genuinely surprised to find that Drake, Sydney’s right had during her time leading East End, had decided to participate in the tournament. And made it this far. Once Randidly knew what to look for, he found the familiar notes in the Nether. However, he made a mental note that sometimes, even sensing the connection between them, the patterns could be deceptive in how much significance lay between them.

Drake still no longer spoke, but it was clear that he had mentally recovered from the hellish experience that left him in a coma for so long. When he manifested his bone armor around his body, a towering image of a Death Knight rolled off his form. Over the next few minutes, he leveled the unfortunate Donnyton Classer he fought against.

Meanwhile, in a reveal that had Randidly rolling his eyes, an anthropomorphic wolf from the Armgrast Empire finally pushed Uncle T. too far. After his clothes ripped, the image fell and revealed the sprawling monstrosity that was Thorn, which quickly constricted around the unlucky foe and choke-held him into submission.

At least you are getting out more, Randidly raised a hand in acknowledgment as Thorn waved shyly up at him after its victory.

The round ended. Randidly rested, sifted significance, then slept. He had definitely earned himself a break. Because from now on, only the truly powerful survived in the tournament.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 910!

His subconscious, however, continued to toy with everything he had witnessed.