Randidly left the frontlines in a hurry, heading back to Jotem’s farm, where he had sent the skyislands during the worst of the fighting. His headache had developed into a constant throb. The nerves of his shoulder and back felt aflame as Sulfur attached back to his body, even while notifications continued to assure him that the Soulseed’s evolution continued.

After expending so much energy and focus to sculpt the remainder of the Nether Ritual and conjure the massive Stillborn Phoenix, Randidly needed a nap. Or maybe, more accurately, a short-term coma. Still, he paused on a nearby hill and glanced back over his shoulder at the chaotic aftermath of the day’s events. The ground had been forever marred by the developments, but he was more interested in the relative draw of the outcome.

The attacking Nether forces milled around for a short time but quickly fled back toward their own lands. The goal of defending Malloon had been achieved, but it did not feel like a victory. Especially since Cerulean’s internal conflict had almost meant that the Nether Ritual had been purposefully unleashed in the direction of the city.

Essentially, everyone but him left unsatisfied.

Great job today, Randidly encouraged the spirit of impossibility hiding within a black hole. You really left the whole situation… stillborn.

One of the Unborn Duo cackled, while the other just seemed confused. Sighing, Randidly turned away and continued his departure. He supposed that was the best response he could have hoped for. Especially exhausted, his jokes weren’t always the best.

Congratulations! Your Skill Marred Yet Reliable Foundation of Yggdrasil (T) has grown to Level 916!

Congratulations! Your Skill Yggdrasil’s Plasm Animus (P) has grown to Level 816!

A groan escaped Randidly’s mouth as a particularly dense wave of energy sizzled out from Sulfur and entered his body. In the worst sort of way, his bones acted as the medium to spread the shock through his flesh.

Randidly needed to pause in a shadowed valley to take several breaths while he allowed the power to disperse. Randidly suspected the real reason that Sulfur’s evolution hadn’t finished wasn’t because Sulfur wasn’t ready, but because he wasn’t. Which was a scary thought. Even though he had handled the funneling, he had a blurry impression of exactly how much energy he had snatched and purified to provide Sulfur.

Most of his attention had gone toward not killing any of the weaker lifeforms in the surrounding area. He had swept through the ambient energy like a ravenous swarm of locusts, but he had tried to keep this draw light against living beings.

The memory of Cerulean ripping energy out of the vulnerable Sulfur was too fresh in his mind.

As for the relatively easier process of stuffing energy into Sulfur, he had barely been paying attention. However, these periodic energy releases started to give him an idea about the magnitude he had provided. And this was just the byproduct radiation released by the evolution. It filled Randidly with anticipation toward the final-

Congratulations! Your Skill Ygdrasil’s Plasm Animus (P) has grown to Level 817!

Another burst of energy caused the muscles of Randidly’s back to flex into painful knots. He leaned back and one of his vertebrae popped. Several seconds passed before he could move easily again. Randidly grimaced. Sulfur, you are protecting me until my body can withstand it, aren’t you buddy?

And if even my body struggles to contain the energy…

Randidly’s mind returned to the hint included in Sulfur’s evolution message: the quantity of both Aether and Nether poured into its body meant that something miraculous had begun to occur in the strange energy processing within the plant. Not that the result would be consistent, but Sulfur possessed the possibility of resembling the perfection of a Shallah’s energy.

The same energy that had fueled the Nexus for three thousand years.

Another zap of energy discharge shocked Randidly back to reality. He rolled his eyes and launched him up into the sky to head back toward the farm. Someday he might be able to take advantage of this blessing, but not yet.

In the few minutes it took him to cross the countryside, Randidly had to stop several more times and simply gather himself; he could definitively say the surges of power were growing more frequent. It meant Sulfur’s evolution would soon be completed, but the pressure against Randidly’s already frazzled psyche mounted. At least when he no longer had to move, he would be able to just allow the energy to run its course.

Even worse, as he landed at the edge of the farm by the fruit-heavy apple trees, a notification popped up and made Randidly hesitate.

Congratulations! Your Skill Diffracted Corruption from an Avaricious Impossibility (P)(U) has grown to 879!

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Congratulations! Your Skill the Hypothetical Gaze that Consumes the Universe (T) has grown to Level 903!

His tiredness meant his self-control was particularly lax. The grass around Randidly’s feet began to change in real-time, the edges of the stalk becoming luminous while the inner portion darkened. A crystal fungus seemed to be growing on the base of the trunk of a nearby tree. Right now Randidly didn’t possess a left arm, but he felt a phantom left-hand ache with exhaustion.

He squeezed his eyes shut. Right now, he couldn’t handle the thought of him poisoning the apple orchard. “If I need to rest for several hours, the environment around me… better to shift to the place I used for training.”

His body groaned to be forced it to move, despite his cramping muscles. His Unnatural Metabolism had been thoroughly abused for far too long; with his will at a low point, his images and Skills couldn’t make up the difference.

Once he was away from the far, he stopped restraining himself. His steps shattered the unfortunate hill he used as a launching pad, but he arrived at the training area in only a few seconds. The lower portion of the area collapsed, cushioning his arrival, but he quickly hopped onto the top of the hill he had reinforced with his images and prepared to rest.

Just as he was about to release the implacable will that kept his body moving, his eye flicked sideways toward unexpected movement. The Grey Creature rose with vicious glee, feeling a great deal of anticipation toward a vicious, edge-of-consciousness battle. But Randidly quickly waved it back.

The three Arakis Beasts crept up the hill around him, taking up positions to protect him while he slept. He felt his lip curled back, somewhere between exhausted annoyance and fondness. Even as his attention focused on the three beings, he felt the Stillborn Phoenix stirring. These days, his attention lay heavy across the world. He forced himself to speak, to at least warn them. “You should not stay here. When I lose consciousness… I will warp the world with my presence. You will be affected.”

All three of the Arakis Beasts ignored him, turning their noses up and settling down into a crouch. They could not speak, but the rapidly developing monsters definitely understood his words. Their eyes scanned the horizon, looking for threats.

Their attitude made it clear they did not consider him one.

Randidly hissed through his teeth, both from frustration and due to another painful pulse of energy from Sulfur. Yet what could he do? In the end, he would not take away these monsters’ choices.

So to his great relief, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

*****

Once the skyislands returned and landed in the area outside of Malloon, Devick left and proceeded to the place where the world-warping confrontation had happened. The air there still tingled, charged with violent Aether and Nether.

Some of the survivors on the ground had set up a few signs, warning people to stay away from the area, but Devick, as well as scores of children who perched themselves on the nearby hills, moved through to view the valley changed by Nether King Hungry Eye. There was danger, but everyone wanted to hold onto their small piece of history. After all, for the rest of their lives, they would be able to proudly announce they had been there, during the attack on Malloon.

Although Devick wondered if this would eventually only be a prelude to a stretch of fighting that was much, much worse, based on the whispers of war.

Devick skin tingled as she climbed the path up to the top of the hill. Nether remained very dense in the air. She overheard one older crabkin bragging that she had been near enough to Malloon to see it the first time the giant eye had opened. The other children denied it could have happened without the kid dying, but in hushed voices, like it was simply reflex and they would rather believe.

Another overheard children’s conversation hashed out the rules of ‘The Battle of Malloon’. One side would be Cerulean and Grettic, the other the Nether Kings, but one individual would be Nether King Hungry Eye. And when he opened his eye, whoever was still moving would be instantly eliminated.

Malloon is a city built near enough to the edges of the Nether territory to be very familiar with war. Nether King’s are the object of fear here, Devick’s heart thumped in her chest as she heard the whispers, the rumors spreading about one particular Nether King. However, nothing is more important to survival than power. And Nether King Hungry Eye, no matter his affiliations… always seems to have the power to stand independent. To resist both the Aether and Nether forces…

…he’s so fucking cool…

Devick topped the hill and looked down across the devastation. Despite having prepared herself, she still sucked in a breath.

The ground had been melted into a flat, glassy surface by the raw power of the energy manifested there. However, that smoothness distorted with unpredictable ripples with amazing frequency. Rather than solid ground, the area behaved like a liquid. In the center of the strange ‘pool’ a twisted, leafless tree grew, its branched curled like desperate fingers grabbing at the sky. The roots that stretched out from the tree were visible through the surface and seemed to be forged of golden light.

The light from the roots shimmered through the rippling surface, casting brilliant patterns across the nearby hills. The sight was gorgeous.

At the edge of the area, a few teenagers had grown bolder than the children on the hill. They had tied a rope around a nervous lizardperson who edged out to the edge of the rippling surface. A few of the lizardperson’s friends were prepared to yank the rope and drag them back, but surprisingly the surface held underneath their feet.

The lizardperson took several tentative steps out, wobbling the entire time as the melted surface rippled underneath their feet. Due to the light source in the center, now an enormous shadow of the lizardperson’s shadow stretched out across the nearby hills. The lizardperson regained their balance and hopped up and down.

Devick laughed in surprise; the strange, elastic surface of the warped area allowed the lizardperson to bounce. Very soon the lizardperson was ecstatically going higher and higher as it put more strength into its legs and grew more confident. Its friends forgot about the rope and surged forward to try it themselves. Soon after a flood of kids rushed down to join in the fun.

Soon the entire valley was filled with laughter and dancing shadows, as a hundred children mixed freely on the bouncing, rippling ground.

Devick remained on the hill, biting her lip. Some part of her wanted to also try the strange bouncing ground, but her heart lingered on another fact. “I want to be strong. I need to be strong. I’m so tired… of having him protect me.

“I need… to finally get a Class.”