Chapter 1136 (2/2)

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 37!

Then it hit him and Randidly wanted to pull out fistfuls of his hair. Because what became immediately apparent was that it wasn’t just the ambient energy in the air, but that he was also coming under the influence of the grand array that was based on Vualla’s accomplishments in the past. And true to Vualla’s reputation as a genius of energy manipulation, its influence managed to sneak through Randidly’s physical ‘bubble’ and influence his internal world in an extremely subtle way.

Which explains why I haven’t been able to condense any fake Nether cores since I came back, Randidly thought with a scowl. But now that I have found the problem, I can begin to make adjustments. It’s just... she truly was impossibly powerful, wasn’t she? The Vualla in her original life. But I wonder...

Shaking his head, Randidly let go of the vexing problem of the Nether image focus for his Fate and considered his other two foci: the Chisel of Chulroon and the hiltless blade that he had gotten from the Fate armory.

Of the two, Randidly was much more confident about the growing synchronization between Yggdrasil and the Chisel of Chulroon. For one thing, he could at least see the information that the Fate had grown to Level 99, although Randidly had no real way of knowing whether the Level cap was the same for Fates. In addition, Chulroon had left a vestige of his will in the Dungeon with the explicit intent to pass on the truth about the System and what it did to his people. Randidly was the beneficiary of that heritage.

So even though there still existed a slumbering rogue element within the Fate that Randidly didn’t yet dare awaken lest it might cause him trouble, he felt relatively confident in his attempts to bring the Fate into alignment with what he wanted. Plus, there was a very easy image linkage between Yggdrasil and the Chisel.

Although it was ultimately a weapon, Chulroon’s Fate was still labeled as a “Chisel”. It was a tool to create and shape. Just like how Yggdrasil was truly a towering font of life, but so often was forced to use its power to destroy the enemies that sought to cause the world to collapse. In addition, the ‘chisel’ could serve as the catalyst that Randidly needed to create the next, and hopefully final, portion of the Yggdrasil Skillset.

Because what Randidly wanted was for Yggdrasil not to just be the Tree of Life, but also the record of all things that was and will be: the Akashic Records. A living and breathing history and future of all things. He already had his Mana Engraving Skill, but Randidly wanted to push that to the next level. And one method to do that would be to have a powerful tool to use with the image of Engraving.

Still, that was all for later. Randidly was still in the early stages of ruminating over the changes to his Yggdrasil image that would result from allowing Chulroon’s Chisel to influence him. It was just an unfortunate truth that Yggdrasil was the image that was currently the furthest along in a process that Randidly didn’t want to allow to stretch along for too long.

The relationship between Ignition Essence and the hiltless Fate Blade was also progressing, but… the process of it left Randidly somewhat confused. A lot of Randidly’s attention had been focused on Vualla during the transformative period for Ignition Essence, but it was clear that the consciousness within the Fate blade had used the fire of the Ignition Essence to set itself from fire. Which was slowly eating away at the consciousness, but it was also once more releasing huge waves of heat.

And perhaps more disturbingly, Randidly could sense from his Ignition Essence image that the more that Ignition Essence burned the consciousness of the Fate blade, the more it learned of the owner’s past. Right now it was just meaningless memories of coarse bread, the feeling of cold raindrops, and the meandering drift of clouds, but Randidly knew that more troublesome memories would come along eventually.

Including the reason that the original owner of the Fate had died… and why the Fate wanted so desperately to die.

This was all further complicated by the fact that as it burned, the spirit inside the Fate had begun to cry. And yet… Ignition Essence seemed sure that it would be a cathartic experience for the Fate. It might be painful, but some memories need to be faced.

So Randidly meditated in his tent, slowly earning Skill Levels in Fire Resistance, Pain Resistance, and the Lantern of Harsh Truths from the activities from Ignition Essence and Visualization and Aether Understanding from Yggdrasil. He lost a lot of his Leveling speed without his three images being separated and all working, but at least this way he was safe from being slowly corrupted by Nether.

When the knock eventually came at the flap to his tent, Randidly’s Absolute Timing informed him that he had been meditating for six hours and twenty-two minutes. When he pulled back the flap, the familiar faces of Abiodun, Salazar, and Zauna were waiting for him.

“Trouble,” Abiodun rumbled. “We’ve received an ultimatum from the Nether King: either we hand over the Nether Prince or it will kill us all.”

Randidly cracked his knuckles. “And which did we choose?”

Chuckling, Abiodun turned away and began to walk toward the Great Rift. “No one likes life on the frontlines; if the Nether King can finally free us from this endless hell, who wouldn’t jump for joy? Of course, we will fight to the death.”