Randidly left the base of the Nether forces, almost forcing his attention away from the ripples moving out from Lowanna after she called all Nether connections a burden. He felt the shuddering fractures emerging throughout the accumulated history of the memory as this characterization became irrefutable. He ghosted across the battlefield, avoiding the intensifying fighting, as the Prophet and the Scythe struggled toward her.

As Randidly passed through the area of the most violent fighting, the Prophet gave him a glance. Yet both seemed content to allow the other to proceed unmolested. Each had a goal that held their attention. The slight decrease in success rate that would result from confronting the other was an unacceptable risk.

The cracks in the Nether of the memory continued. Not even Deganawidah’s stabilization could prevent intermittent rumbles.

In the end, the Nether Beings of the memory would need to confront the Cult of the Savior. Looking at the sky, it was clear that the karma had been sewn long ago for this meeting. Despite Randidly’s presence delaying the kidnapping of the Nether Arbiter and the subsequent torture, it seemed a variant on the same inflection point would find a way to still arrive.

Not my problem, Randidly gritted his teeth. The rotations of his Nether Core were inconsistent, nearly spent to possess the Weight to overwhelm Lowanna in direct contest. His head pounded and his reserves were empty. One last impossible wall loomed ahead of him. With that barrier so firmly in his path, he couldn’t spare the attention for this issue.

Parts of the memory would need to resolve themselves without his interference.

Randidly’s toes curled in the mud and he stepped three more times, moving to the prepared area. He barely managed to keep ahead of the ripples spreading out through the surrounding Nether. Nether as burden became law. It had always been true, but now it was emphasized based on the fact that the Nether Arbiter herself had pronounced it.

It had been necessary, but Randidly it would also make his own existence more difficult. He could feel his own exhaustion already beginning to accumulate, due to the presence of the Alpha Cosmos.

To his surprise, Devick had actually made good use of the time he had been gone. She had drawn about half the pattern he had left for her. The Mana depths possessed some unacceptable variance, but the details of the lines had been followed faithfully. She hunched over as she worked, crimson hair falling down over her shoulder. For a bit he simply watched her moving intently, crimson and black energy flickering away from her eyes as she stared unblinkingly down at her toil.

Burdens, yes, Randidly couldn’t help but smile as he watched Deivck move. The ripples caught up with him, soaking into his body. That pronouncement even reached through him and into his body, the Alpha Cosmos. Subtle shifts adjusted the foundation of his existence in ways that could almost be missed. Yet he had no doubt that the effects would eventually become undeniable. …Yet, we make them anyway. Because it is worth it.

Only through connection can we grow.

When she noticed him, she actually seemed pleased. Devick raised the scroll and waved it excitedly, a wide grin on her face. “Hungry Eye, I don’t know what sorta scribbles these fucking are, but just sitting here tracing it earned me a new Skill AND I’ve gained almost two hundred Levels in it! Seriously, if you can casually gain so many Skill Levels on a whim, its no wonder you are a monster.”

“Yea, something like that,” Randidly chuckled. He rubbed two fingers together to refine Mana, then flicked it toward the half-finished pattern. A bit of his energy shot through the pattern, evening out the Mana depth. “But I need to focus on something else right now. Can you finish the Engraving while I focus?”

She flapped her fingers as if to say, ‘wouldn’t I already have finished if you hadn’t shown up and distracted me?’ then returned to her work. Randidly hopped up to a nearby hill, sitting down cross-legged and looked at the sky.

He took in a deep breath. He planned his next steps.

A ripple formed in the air as his Codex Hexahedron condensed in front of him. He hummed and it shot up into the sky, the smaller cubes spreading out to allow the larger cube and its energy field to cover some of the flows of significance hanging there, determining the fate of the memory.

Strange Aether constructs continued to swirl beyond the edge of the memory. In addition, the boundaries of the Dungeon Neveah wove finally began to cease seething and settle, creating a firm boundary. Negative energy slashed back and forth as the Dungeon began to truly activate. Randidly wondered if Neveah had created an entrance. Would people in the Nexus soon be able to enter into the memory? But he pushed all the distractions to the side.

He activated his Codex Hexahedron.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Codex Hexahedron has grown to Level 81!

Randidly pressed his lips together as he endured the information assault that came from his Fatepiece. Details about the Nether, its purposes, its relation to the surrounding energy, and possibilities about its effect surged through him. Even with the Dread Homunculus handling most of the computational strain, Randidly still had to clench his fists to stay upright.

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Yet in the end—

“This much information isn’t enough,” Randidly sighed. He had the idea of how this next attempt should go, but too many details remained out of his reach. “But… it’s not like I can delay for much longer…”

He bit his lip. His third impossible attempt was the most important, because it would both finish the pattern for finally defining Ghasthund and he would use the failure to heal his Class. Either was an extremely important attempt in its own right, but the combination made it one of the most pivotal moments of his existence.

Especially considering the event revolved around the Pinnacle.

He couldn’t remain in the memory forever, especially now that he had so directly antagonized Elhume. So when he left the memory… he wanted to be prepared for the resistance he would find. He needed all his powers brought into alignment.

Randidly glanced down at Devick’s efforts, then looked up again at the significance. Yggdrasil drew energy constantly into his body, but he had been pushing himself to the limit for several hours already. And the next stretch would be even worse.

“A short nap…” He said the words slowly but disliked the choices available to him. Having his Codex Hexahedron at a higher Level would be important for ironing out the ambiguity in the complex Engraving he built. His base attempt would be to artificially cause a Pinnacle event to happen. Due to the nature of the memory, especially with Neveah’s Dungeon additions, this actually seemed reasonably straightforward; Randidly would just accelerate time through the memory, to rush toward the ‘climax’ of the memory, where Elhume reached the Pinnacle for the second time.

Witnessing that event, Randidly would use the powerful energies released at the Pinnacle to heal his Class. That was the idea, anyway.

Perhaps the biggest downside to this was that Randidly didn’t even know what would spring out of the woodwork to stop him. But he did his best not to let unknown dangers slow him down.

The problems he wrestled with came later. Simply inserting the wild energies released by a stranger’s Pinnacle event into his Class seemed irresponsible, even for him. So he would have preferred to push the Codex to a high Level. If he could scan and understand the energies, not only would he be able to get a glimpse into the essence of the Pinnacle, but he would also be able to utilize those energies more efficiently. Troublesome elements wouldn’t be able to sneak into his Class, causing issues down the line.

But considering his current exhaustion—

Randidly stared at the Nether for several more seconds. He knew what he had done a thousand times in the past: he pushed forward and was rewarded for his determination.

And yet…

“I need to be more than this,” Randidly told the storm of significance. He breathed deep, pulling kinetic energy from the nearby combat and using it to reinforce his body as best he could. “I’ve done this for so long, forcing my way through problems. It’s worked every time… and even I don’t think I would fail now. But also…”

He thought about Neveah’s sadness as she pleaded with him to think about his personal costs. He thought about the devastated expression on Lowanna’s face as she announced to the world that Nether bonds were burdens. He thought about the bright Devick who worked below him now, compared to the madness of the modern Devick.

Because Randidly knew that the path he walked most closely resembled Devick’s. He saw the prices for continuing to push without acknowledging limits.

Randidly’s shoulders slumped. Even with all the benefits he knew this would bring, the actions felt uncomfortable. He forced himself to relax. He dispersed his Fatepiece and lay on the ground. He closed his eyes. It went against his instincts to do this, with so much on the line. He knew he needed the rest, but he also knew he needed other things just as much.

Perhaps it was a mistake. Perhaps he would regret deviating from his usual methods.

But he couldn’t forget the look on Lowanna’s face. The absolute exhaustion and bitterness, the hopeless and bleak light in her eyes as she called every aspect of her people a burden.

Randidly fell into a dreamless sleep, haunted by the Nether Arbiter’s eyes. When he woke up five minutes later, the worst of his exhaustion had been vanquished by Yggdrasil’s tireless efforts. Energy had cycled through his body, healing the small tears and expelling toxins that built up in his system. For the sixth time that day, his Nether Core had stabilized its rotations and began to accelerate.

In addition to all those improvements, Randidly had an idea. He thought of a quick way to push up the Level of his Fatepiece, by focusing on the critical elements.

He sat up and looked at the sky. He began to twist and alter his perspective, folding the dense Nether flows over and over again, seeking a particular method.

The idea came from Lowanna’s words. From her reminder about the importance of Nether Weight. Randidly had incorporated Nether Weight into almost his every movement. His image physicalizations covered up the signs, but he was practically covered in ghastly flames every moment now.

He wielded the significance he built up freely. It naturally had become incorporated into his movements. Now, however, Randidly folded his perception over and over again, seeking a very focused method of viewing. One based on the burdens accumulated.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ghosthound’s Acute Nether Nose (M) has grown to Level 1081!

Color leaked out of his vision as focused solely on significance. Space, matter, and mass drifted away… leaving pulsing blobs of accumulated Nether. Still Randidly twisted and turned until those blobs stretched into high towers standing in front of him. With a few more adjustments, Randidly felt the entirety of the memory, but it looked like an upside-down funnel, straightening to a distant point in the sky.

Randidly had made all ‘objects’ into towers of significance, arranged by their Weight. His eyes peered up at those tallest edifices of significance, those that could reach up and pierce the sky. His will pulsed and the Codex Hexahedron flew up to spread across these most pivotal existences in the memory.

In that strange, dark city of history, Randidly’s Fatepiece began to feed him the fundamental information he needed for this last attempt.