Randidly began pouring PP to finish his chosen Path. When he added his 50th PP, he stalled out and blinked at the notification he had been given: +1 Free Stats and +1 to Health, Mana, and Stamina.

All told, 1000 of the Attributes and 1000 Free Stats. Randidly couldn’t help but chuckle as he considered the soon-to-be-completed Path.. Just for that, this is a lucrative Path, isn’t it? Now, what will the final reward be?

He sped through the rest of the 50k PP very quickly without distributing his free Stats; after all the rewards were tabulated, he could decide how to spend these little free bonuses. Soon, the Path completion notification popped up in front of him.

Congratulations! Your eyes turn from the sky and the distant possibility of the Pinnacle to concern yourself with the pragmatic realities within your reach. And immediately, you begin to work. Each motion carves signs and truths into existence. From your hands, ash and ruin. From your breath, sacrilege and perversion. From your fell alchemies, revolution. Worse even than the Dove Perdition you drag to envelop the whole of the Nexus, in your wake lingers a passage that others may follow to similarly effect change against this great collective. Even if your life would cease now, you have created a flaw in the monolith that your predecessors built.

It is a feat without equal, in the history of the Nexus.

Congratulations! You have completed the From the Nexus, Dove Perdition Path! Your Ghosthound’s Deviation Rarity has spread from your body into others! Other individuals within the Nexus have an extremely minute chance of earning the GD Rarity when they evolve powerful Skills with unique twists. Should those individuals embody the spirit of exploration and advancement with which you created the Rarity, they can capture a portion of your power. Should their aims instead run counter to your beliefs, the efficacy of those Skills will be greatly reduced.

Congratulations! You have also generated the Deviant (D) bonus designation for Skills! This bonus designation is slightly more likely to occur over the next ten years. Designation will function similarly to the Unique (U) designation, whereupon it will be added in addition to another Rarity to create the final designation. Those with the Deviant designation will experience various erratic effects in the usage of their Skill. As the proficiency increases, their is an infinitesimally small chance that the Deviant Designation will evolve into a new general Rarity, following the example of Ghosthound’s Deviation.

Congratulations! For completing the From the Nexus, Dove Perdition Path, +200 to Grey Monarch’s Authority and Discretion of the Apostate Moirae. Congratulations! You have gained the Skill What the Ghosthound Sows, He Will Soon Reap (GD).

What the Ghosthound Sows, He Will Soon Reap (GD)(U): A unique Skill of Randidly Ghosthound, gained when he caused a significant change to the Rarity System of the Nexus. Impossible to duplicate. As others take advantage of this created flaw, Skill Level will increase. Slightly boosts the efficacy of the user’s Skills and the chance others can also become Deviant. Gives the user slight resistance against deviant Skills. Gives an even smaller immunity to regular Skills. User has a small chance of immediately understanding any Deviant Skill used against him. Effects increase with Skill Level.

Randidly breathed slowly in and then out as he considered the reward given to him by the Path. An extra four hundred Stats in those Stats that were already the highest. A thunderous shift in the way Rarities would proceed, that made his mind race with possibilities. But perhaps most importantly, the fact that the Rarity System could change gave him the inkling of a few other aspects of the System he could target…

That’s for later. For now… this benefit is plenty. Randidly chuckled to himself. Very quickly, his bubble of joy faded— an interesting development, and power enough to improve him, but he didn’t have much time to waste. He quickly looked again at his Path Screen: additional PP flowing in had finally pushed him up to a little under 24k.

He waffled as he considered the possibilities. He needed to eliminate a few more possible Paths, to keep accumulating advantages. Because he was just short of the requirement for Font of the Endless Milles, Randidly reluctantly decided to set that option to the side. He had already earned the reward for a few Milles before. And while the Stat evolution benefited him, he wasn’t too interested in further developments like that.

Well, perhaps endless Milles come with a more concrete benefit, but I’m willing to risk it to earn other immediate boosts. Chewing on his lip, Randidly considered the depleted list of Paths to choose from.

Alchemist of Past and Present 0/10000, The Homunculus Advances: The First Self-Vivisection 0/????, Song of the Void 0/????, Reality from Echoes, Moirae and Alchemist Ascendant 0/15000, Heritage of the Nether People 0/???, Balance Between Nether 0/10000

His eyes flicked from one Path to another, cataloging each: A Path to benefit his Fateset and identity as an Alchemist.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

One Path for the Dread Homunculus, another for the Songstress of Absence.

A Path combining his existence as an Alchemist with the Moiraes acting within him. Also particularly related to the accomplishment of supporting the reality of the beings from within the memory.

A Path generally for his investment in the culture of the Nether peoples and one that probably resulted from the growing bond, as he, Enmya, and the population of the Alpha Cosmos settled into a three-way relationship.

“Right now, that balance is still growing… I believe that the final Path will be more effective once Enmya comes into the Alpha Cosmos and adjusts. So that just leaves these others…” Randidly rubbed his chin. “Cost… all similar enough, probably. So which way can I improve the most.”

When he scanned the list one more time, Randidly couldn’t help but laugh at where his attention fixated. He slapped his chest and called on his image. “Alright, Homunculus you madman, let’s see what we can improve with a vivisection.”

As he spent his PP, He earned 2 Primordial Nether Juju with each 50 PP spent through the 8k Path.

Congratulations! You have completed the Homunculus Advances: The First Self-Vivisection Path! The resolve of the Dread Homunculus strikes fear into the hearts of lesser beings. Although it has climbed up to great heights of power, such accomplishments are insufficient to satisfy its hunger. In order to push its body further, the Homunculus turns its wicked blades upon its own body. It opens up its chest cavity and experiments to find out its own limits.

Branching Path! Over the next several minutes, user will experience a variety of pains as the Homunculus experiments. Tides of pain will come in and then recede. Please Note: you may cease this Path at any time and obtain your rewards. The longer you hold out, the better the rewards will be, as the Homunculus will gather superior data. Please Also Note: if you complete the Path while the tides of pain are in, the data will be marred by agony. As such, it is very likely the Path will end in a negative reward.

Are you ready to continue? Y/N

Randidly’s eyebrow rose. “Really, I need to actually experience it?” He felt the Homunculus shifting back and forth excitedly inside of his body and could only shake his head in wonder. “Alright, fine, I just hope for your sake that its worth it.”

Besides, how bad can this pain be? Randidly thought. And immediately after he did so, he grimaced; definitely, acting so flippantly about the approaching Path would soon fill him with regret.

The first wave of pain felt like ants crawled across his skin and started biting out chunks of his body. At this point, pain like this was almost a cliche. Randidly’s powerful body couldn’t prevent the pain, but his domineering mind meant he didn’t flinch.

The first lesson the System ever taught Randidly was how to take a hit, after all.

When the first pain left, Randidly had time to release a long breath. If it stayed like this, he would definitely be able to persist through several waves of pain. The Homunculi’s excitement rose even further. He could almost imagine the image twisting its neck at an impossible angle to peer down into its opened chest.

As he sucked in another breath, the second wave of pain arrived. Light and incendiary at first, quickly deepening to a sharp chill that penetrated to his bones. More than anything else, it reminded Randidly of a combination of the light radiation and entropy layers of the Hierarchy of Burden.

Randidly shifted uncomfortably, acknowledging this would likely not be as easy as he had first expected.

The third wave of pain finally brought a mental component. A stomping, strained headache like the many Randidly had acquired juggling all his abilities were the central component, while his flesh seemed to ignite and tear itself away from his bones. Perhaps even more ominously, this wave of pain lasted much longer than the previous ones, stretching to almost five minutes.

A whole new worry clouded his expression with a frown, but when he actually checked, he released a soft sigh. Looks like part of the passage of time is just mental. The first two waves were thirty seconds, but that third only lasted a minute, despite the sensation. Tsk, but that means forcing my way through the Path could take a while.

The fourth wave of pain arrived. Yet it was a peculiar pain. Rather than any harm to his flesh, Randidly felt the almost unfamiliar sensation of fear. An overwhelming fear poured into every inch of his body, causing him to tremble and shake. He felt like the blood was being drained out of his entire body, devoured by a hungry entity capable of devouring him. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed and endured it.

The fifth wave was loneliness that old foe of Randidly’s.

For what seemed to be an hour, he swam through oblivion, with no hope of release.

It was almost a relief when the sixth wave arrived and it was once more pain. Horrible, thorn-covered spikes plunged again and again through Randidly’s body, but he could at least resist this more effectively than the mental attacks.

During the lull between the sixth and seventh waves, there was a knock at the door. Randidly raised his head and squinted. “Who is it?”

“Me,” Neveah replied. “It’s almost time to start bringing people into the Alpha Cosmos. Considering the number of individuals coming and the disintegration of the memory structure… if we don’t start now, we might run into trouble. Are you ready?”

Randidly’s stomach bubbled. He bit his lip, then bounded to his feet and rushed over to a trashcan in the corner. He opened his mouth and vomited as the worst sensation of nausea he had ever experienced seized him. In the wake of the upheaval, it felt like acid had been sprinkled across his stomach. After a few seconds of wavering, Randidly dry heaved, expelling little more than stomach acid.

The Dread Homunculus made a noise of interest and made a note.

“I’m gonna need a minute,” Randidly panted.