Chapter 834 (1/2)

Randidly didn’t stop to think very much about the implications as he, lightning fast, opened up his Path Menu once more. He scanned through the options, but again, nothing would grant an immediate benefit. Skills took time to grow.

But one would be completed immediately and would be an investment in the future. If his Alpha Cosmos was going to add this huge kick to his powers, he was going to finish the Alpha Cosmos I: the Intermingling. It was only 200 PP and was finished immediately. Randidly obtained no stats from the addition of PP into the Path, but he hadn’t really expected to.

Congratulations! You have completed the Alpha Cosmos I: the Intermingling Path! Your body has become something that has never been seen before. But though the Path has not been created by others, that does not mean there are no ways forward. Congratulations! The PP tithe percentage you receive has increased by an extremely small amount. You have learned the Skill Connection to the Alpha Cosmos (U).

Connection to the Alpha Cosmos: At the expense of great mental wariness, individuals may cross into and out of your internal world. During the transfer, the individual’s power will be scaled up or down, depending on the relative power of the destination world. Images that such warriors use will benefit immensely from the scaling. Scaling will be increased based upon your own stats.

Useful, but would it be immediately beneficial…? Randidly’s mind worked furiously as he examined the Skill. His Health continued to tick downward toward 900, a little less than one fifth his total Health. Above, there was now a legitimate, slowly growing sun as the gas ignited and fueled the expansion of heat. Aegiant’s projection was laughing with glee.

This wasn’t enough. But Randidly had an idea.

Even as his Health dropped, he began to draw more and more Aether into himself. And he appropriated the Aether that was trying to heal his arm before the constructs were drawn back to himself. Although he didn’t know exactly how it was done, Randidly had witnessed the process of Lucretia crossing over and possessing a Witch King. Even if some time had passed, Randidly could still clearly picture the shape of the Aether that had allowed that to happen.

Sure, this new Skill he obtained would be strong. But Randidly wanted to cheat the System. After all, Lucretia’s transfer had been relatively costless to him because she already had a foothold in this world. She couldn’t completely come over, but her manifestation had come at a discount. The System had borne some of the cost.

So why couldn’t Randidly make it so the System bore the cost all the time…?

With the rest of his PP, Randidly gambled and threw it into Ashen Path I, hoping for a short Path. But the result left him grimacing; the revealed Path cost was 600. So he wouldn’t be able to finish three Paths in quick succession for a sudden turnaround. This part he would need to do the old fashioned way.

What he needed was the ability to bring people into and out of his Soulskill at scale.

As Randidly’s Health neared 500, only one-tenth of his total, he had to move. So he exploded upward out of the lava at the other side of the plaza. Immediately he was on the defensive, ready for Aegiant’s attack.

But Aegiant just chuckled and continued to build the ball of fire that had consumed almost one-third of the plaza already. The lava continued to evaporate and ignite, fueling it further toward consuming the entire area. A firestorm of greedy orange-red flames multiplied before Randidly’s eyes. Very soon, the portal to Icklid would be covered by that fire. Hopefully, that wouldn’t damage the connection.

The phrase Randidly was focusing on was that the images of those that came out would benefit immensely from that scaling. Hopefully, that would be enough.

Even as the fireball grew, Aether howled within Randidly. The icy energy burned its way toward the Unique Connection to the Alpha Cosmos Skill. Very soon, the Skill was trembling. More and more energy was siphoned down, forced into the small but compact Skill. Soon, Randidly was trembling. His Health regeneration was roaring, healing him as quickly as it could. But the heat in the air was swiftly becoming unbearable. The stump of his arm shivered and tingled.

To combat the heat, Randidly began to use Frigid Ash, Devouring Storm. But it was a losing battle. Bits of ash initially cooled the surrounding area, but very quickly the sheer volume of heat drove his Skill backward.

Still, the point wasn’t to win. It was to outlast.

“Does it hurt?” Aegiant whispered. “Are you scared? You know the worst part of my day? Every night, after I finish my work, I return to find my grandson painting, or playing music, or reading scrolls. And as soon as he sees me, sees my spear and my armor, he begins to shake in fear. Do you know how that makes me feel? How ashamed I am of what he has become?”

To make a Domain, Randidly thought evenly as he stood stone-faced before the growing sun, you warp the System. You take something small and give it scale. Then the area around you becomes yours.

The Skill in Randidly’s chest was shuddering under the strain of handling so much Aether. With every ounce of Willpower Randidly possessed, he focused on what he wanted. Visualization began to tremble with the strain. He needed scale. He needed low cost. He needed it now.

“Burn… burn for me…” The projection cackled. Then he struck at Randidly’s Breath of the Spear Phantom but found Randidly’s grip vice-like holding steady.

Randidly raised his gaze and looked up toward the sky, piercing through the heavy waves of heat to see simply blue. He gritted his teeth.

His new Skill shattered. Which, as always, was one of the worst pains he had ever experience. Even now, if he didn’t control the destruction, what had occurred with him against Aegiant the first time would happen again. If he didn’t have someone with healing Skills like Simon, he would be reduced to nothing.

But this time, Randidly was ready. And once the Skill shattered, the Aether he had gathered into a humming whirlpool surged into action.

...and did not find purchase.

Randidly didn’t really even know what was going on for several seconds. But the sharp and vicious pain of a broken Skill dragged him right back to himself. In spite of himself, Randidly opened his mouth and gagged. Luckily, Aegiant’s vision was screened by the flames.

Otherwise, he would have noticed that a hair would have broken Breath of the Spear Phantom.

I… failed…? Randidly thought hollowly, even as he gathered up the Aether that was rampaging through himself and set it to spinning above himself once more. The pain of the broken Skill was making it difficult to think, but Randidly gritted his teeth and forced his mind forward.

The heat was rising. Randidly was forced to back away to the edge of the plaza, hopping up onto the low alabaster wall, that was slumped into sludge at this point.

Not that it really mattered, the city was collapsing around him, slowly falling into the volcano below.

The reason Randidly had failed was that he didn’t have an in. Likely, Domains developed naturally along predetermined paths. There were pre-approved ways Domains could be used. And Randidly’s Alpha Cosmos and its connection were not on that list. So when he sought to grip the System, it had knocked his attempt away.

With Aegiant cackling almost completely covered by the braying roar of flames, Randidly felt a chill run through him. The reason he had failed was that his Aether had no purchase on the System. But that wasn’t exactly true. There was a method.

Randidly activated Aether Perception and took a long look at the shreds of Aether that the System used to determine his body and heal him. Not only was it Aether intimately related to him and his place in the System, but it also happened to be currently ripped apart into manageable chunks that could be isolated and overpowered.