Once the issue of Sulfur had been settled, Randidly meditated for several hours. A lot of the benefits he had received wouldn’t become obvious until he had a pitched battle, but the explanations hinted at all the benefits he had earned.

Randidly reached up and patted the new Sulfur. “Thanks buddy. I really do appreciate everything you do for me.”

The soulseed- well, Soulseed no longer- hummed with pleasure from the wave of genuine emotion Randidly released. Sulfur had grown to an incredible degree, easing the burdens on the rest of his body and even still housing the stigma of exhaustion, although that had now been consumed by the Stillborn Phoenix’s place on the limb.

Randidly glanced up; the sky above him was still a chaotic battlefield of wind blades and shadows. The Grey Creature was in the process of discovering his new form, which would have a profound impact on Randidly’s new fighting style. Shades of a grey, black, and silver flashed back and forth, a dogfight between chunks of celestial energy. At the moment, there didn’t seem to be a consensus on what it would become.

Without his mind clouding with worry, Randidly turned away. Some things took time. This Grey Creature was a fundamental shift in how he would interact in the world. In a way, it was Randidly finally maturing into the fullness of his powers. As such, the process would not be simple.

Besides, even within the isolated reinforced platform, Randidly had plenty of other tasks and concerns demanding his attention.

Very quickly, he tested out the new, combined manifestation of his Domain, Helen’s Sea, Cradle of Unlikely Lives. His ability to track and manipulate multiple layers of force in the area around him improved even more than he had expected. He needed to manifest his Synechdochence to add teeth to the mixture, but it filled Randidly with anticipation for his next Nether Storm. And he pretty easily pushed it to a Mille, putting him… well ahead of his ability to generate PP.

In the wake of his movements, he paused and looked down at the palms of his hands. His heart ached. Do you see, Helen? You have become the entire sea from which the Unlikely Lives have been born. Your sacrifice… it was not in vain.

Randidly also tested his body frequently, at first checking to make sure Sulfur integrated fully into his movements. He planted his foot, accelerated across most of the domed area, then planted his foot and punched with his left arm. His hip, shoulder, and elbow all transferred the force as he expected, despite the fact that the volume of the arm had changed.

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimera’s Suffocating Rebuke (T) has grown to Level 960!

A wave of force scoured across the warped ground, finding not a single flaw to exploit. As such, the blast continued outward until it encountered the shadow dome, which bulged for several seconds to contain it. Randidly chuckled and hefted his arm; the density of the limb had increased, to keep the feel exactly the same. Randidly loved it.

Once he went through a few typical motions and felt comfortable, he began pushing his limits. The winds screamed around his body as he flitted back and forth, unleashing concentrated bursts of force. The dome bubbled and distorted, but the constant rotation of Nether quickly pulled everything back into place.

In addition, Randidly took occasional pauses in his training to feed different materials from his interspatial ring into the Codex Hexahedron. The process swiftly depleted his mental energy, but the physical activities of determining Sulfur’s capabilities didn’t require much thought. And very soon, he pushed its functionality to the next tier.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Codex Hexahedron has grown to Level 21!

Congratulations! The Codex Hexahedron’s capabilities have grown! The complexity of substances it can analyze has grown! Objects of larger size can now be scanned! The efficiency of scanning objects you have already encountered has vastly increased! Ability to offer slight predictions on how two scanned objects or materials will interact has greatly increased!

Please continue to scan complex objects or organisms in order to improve the Codex Hexahedron.

Randidly’s lips twitched aside from a small throw away word about organisms now being a target for the codex, only the efficiency had changed. Which meant it would be some mental grinding for a while longer.

In his hand, the cube made of assembled metal cubes whirred on its own, seemingly pleased with the change. The light pulsing from its core area had grown brighter. Yet Randidly’s eyes twinkled with amusement. Able to scan organisms, eh? Well, let’s see exactly what makes up Sulfur.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Randidly scanned the pinky of his new left hand-

-and woke up a few minutes later with a pounding headache. As he pushed himself up on his elbows, he sneezed and sprayed bits of dried blood everywhere. Groaning, he got all the way back to his feet. “Note to self, Sulfur means serious business.

However, his pain had brought along with it a benefit.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Codex Hexadedron has grown to Level 22!

…

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Codex Hexahedron has grown to Level 29!

Randidly took a jug of water from his interspatial ring and rinsed the gunk off of his face. “Okay, okay, I get it. Complex organisms will help push me to the next tier.”

He experimented a bit more, opening up the Fatepiece until it was about two-thirds of the way to being Randidly sized; honestly, he was a bit impressed at this improvement. Despite a part of him that urged him this was a bad idea, his pride convinced him to use his right hand as the base for the next experiment, just to-

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Codex Hexahedron has grown to Level 30!

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Codex Hexahedron has grown to Level 31!

This time Randidly caught himself, pitching forward after the onslaught of information crashed against his petty psyche. Growling to himself, Randidly held himself there for several long minutes through sheer effort of will. A slew of strange facts about himself, about the rate of cell division, his hyperactive removal of cancerous cells within his body, and the sheer amount of chemical energy his muscles packed away, as emergency reserves.

Very literally, Randidly could feel the esoteric foundations of his different Stats, so different from his anchors as a human. Honestly, it was their complexity that reduced him to such a sorry state. He didn’t just gain improved Strength when he switched to Primordial Nether Juju, but he became a part of an alternate universe. A whole different series of implied truths were contained within each anchor.

As he gradually sifted through the flood of information received, his expression grew increasingly solemn. There were so many contradictions and unusual universal laws mixing within his Stats he likely was very close to imploding underneath it all. Very clearly, he had gotten lucky when one of his Stats had been able to intervene slightly, guiding him to a successful conclusion.

For the moment, Randidly accepted he would need to try the Codex on more objects. He intended to return to his physical training, but this time Acri flowed down from its usual perch around his waist and chirped at him.

Randidly tilted his head to the side. “...you want to evolve too?”

Acri didn’t even bother to give Randidly’s question an answer. All the experience the weapon had stored with its form bubbled up, rising out of the flexible shaft and the sprig of leaves until it shined with a golden light.

Congratulations! Your Soulseed Acri is evolving! It has incorporated aspects of your images into its form! It has heard your desires for a new kind of weaponry! It has compressed and strengthened the experience it gathered for a very long time, generating a powerful wave of change through its composition!

Congratulations! Your Soulseed Acri’s consciousness was greatly strengthened! It’s ability to predict your movements have greatly increased! Acri’s main body has split into three mentally tethered portions!

After observing your methods of materials creation, your Soulseed Acri has improved the hardness of its blades to impossible proportions! Warning, unable to determine the rarity of this material. If you report this to your closest Village Spirit, you will be greatly rewarded.

Randidly had a soft smile on his face as the glow faded. Compared to the wave of notifications he had received from Sulfur’s evolution, this felt a bit like a letdown. However, Acri had been Randidly’s weapon for so long that he wouldn’t be able to imagine fighting without Acri. Especially when the material of its blade became so valuable that the System itself very directly attempted to bribe him.

Acri, as promised by the notification, had split into three different pieces. Randidly’s gaze when to the first one: a slender shafted weapon that ended in wickedly curving head, almost more harpoon than a true spear. It was much shorter than the previous Acri, about as tall as he was. Randidly plucked up the weapon and spun it. As he did so, his smile widened. He flicked his wrist and the sharp movement made the flexible shaft hum.

Just like Sulfur, Acri had vastly increased the density of weapon. All of the ungainly size had been stripped away, revealing the deadly intent waiting beneath.

In particular, Randidly leaned forward and looked at the spearhead. As promised, the sharpened edge gleamed with an unnatural golden light. With another flick, Randidly spun the weapon around and dragged the tip very lightly against the warped ground Randidly had created. He didn’t even feel any resistance as the edge cut a small divot.

Randidly stabbed the spear directly down, much more confident. Again, the ground couldn’t resist Acri in the slightest.

“Oh, yes. With this sort of edge…” Randidly’s eyes hardened. Images might let people cheat and keep up with his movement speed, but this impossible edge would make short work of enemies that believed they could casually block him.

Humming in pleasure, Randidly looked over at the other two pieces of Acri. The first was a massive spearhead, about twice as large as Randidly’s head, a heavy implement of bone that looked half like it was an ancient work of art and half like it should be fired out of a canon. Strange patterns of that same golden glaze covered the massive spearhead, while also running along the edge. Small hoops had been carved into the bottom, but there was no grip: this was not a weapon for him to wield, as far as he could tell.

He pivoted again; the last portion of Acri was one derived from his older brother, Thorn. Acri had created a writhing, fleshy core surrounded by thick and powerful vines. Randidly folded his arms across his chest and looked at Acri suspiciously. “And what, may I ask, are we supposed to do with all this?”