Chapter 1173 (1/2)

Aether treated as well behaved Nether was woven together in rapid motion as the momentum of the working took over and forced Randidly forward, even as his inexperience with this sort of project would usually push him toward cautious. But as the pieces of the working began to engage with Randidly’s three foci, he had no choice but to hastily erect the connections ahead of them. And really, he had no other choice but simply relying on instinct.

It was like a curtain was ripped aside and Randidly could see out through the window into the truth of the world around him; caution would do him no favors here. The house that held Randidly’s small window was freefalling through the abyss and the net to save the whole thing was made by the amorphous threads of necessity and desire. No matter how carefully Randidly wanted to guide himself forward, that was not the sort of moment that this was.

This elaborate construction could only be managed with belief. And perhaps a little luck.

So Randidly believed. By mostly imitation and burning determination, three portions of the Aether constructs began to slowly spin with more vigor. The heavy weight of the three foci that Randidly had prepared began to shiver as Aether constructs dug into them. Their energies were slowly drawn upward into the three rotation pillars, drawing energy up from the base toward the apex. To the spot where Randidly would soon condense a Fate.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Manipulation has grown to Level 202!

More and more energy was funneled up through these three portions, so much so that the Aether used to build them shuddered and warped under the strain and friction of the passing energy. But Randidly was always there with a gentle touch, feeding more Aether into the whole thing so it stayed whole.

Sweat dripped down Randidly’s forehead in the real world while his attention was diverted inward. The small drips were a delicate distraction as he continually healed the working. Especially near the top of the pyramid, where the three rivers of energy started to surge and crash around together, Randidly needed to constantly use Aether to repair the pieces.

This… Randidly shivered. This is unsustainable. If it keeps accelerating…!

Even as Randidly began to get a handle on managing all of the energy, the mechanical pieces to even more furious life. More of the little mechanisms began to move. The amount of energy that was thrust upward from each of the tripod's legs tripled. Instantly, even the legs began to warp at a speed that was alarming, even with Randidly’s touch continually mending the moving pieces. In addition, the apex began to melt away to nothing.

There was simply too much ambient energy. The power flowing through this Aether construct was too destructive. With all the potential of the Alpha Cosmos, the almost inert deadliness of Illym, and also Chulroon’s long-held desire for vengeance...

Randidly gritted his teeth. It occurred to him now that the shape of the Aether construct provided by the System was likely designed to handle a lot less energy than what Randidly was currently producing. Perhaps even more than one third less. Not only because he had prepared very specifically, but likely a normal person didn’t have as much potent energy present in their existence as either a Fate or an entire world.

Perhaps that Nathaz Eloise was there precisely to determine if this was the correct tool, but obviously a reading wasn’t possible when it tried to engage with Randidly’s Aether connection to the System...

As it was, Randidly began to furiously study the way that energy was flowing upward and warping the mechanism of this process. Although the Alpha Cosmos’ energy was relatively mild, the other two burned with power as it flowed upward. More and more of Randidly’s Aether was consumed to keep those two legs. Whole.

A Fate was already someone’s images and karma being mortgaged to condense power. Now to slowly unravel that power and feed it back through a mortgaging process…

Still, the value these would have in this karmic brokering was significant. That was why Randidly had gone through the trouble of doing this. But it seemed that value was too significant for this normal version of Fate production tool to manage.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Manipulation has grown to Level 203!

So Randidly reached forward and started to make some changes. His mind buzzed as complex sigils of Aether were drawn and obliterated as he streamlined what he wanted.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Manipulation has grown to Level 204!

More and more, Randidly relied on the insights he had gained from seeing Vualla create energy manipulation sigils to cluster and space out the power along the legs and at the apex. They acted as breaks, keeping the energy from connecting into an unending flow. Too much in one spot too quickly was asking for trouble. Still, that would only delay the problem.

Which meant that it was time for Randidly to pull a solution out of a hat. His physical shoulders rose and fell as he filled his lungs and released the breath. The moment stretched. His three images clustered closely around him, becoming a part of the weaving.

Grinning at a sudden idea, Randidly began to incorporate not only Aether but also Nether in the three funnels. Using the space opened up by the warping pieces of Aether, Randidly widened the tripod legs that sucked energy upward and added thick cords of Nether through each. It didn’t necessary provide ‘cooling’ but it certainly functioned as such.

Nether and Aether worked in concert to calm down the rampaging energy. Even in the harmonized forms, the two types of energies were relatively opposed. While Vualla’s runes bought him a few scant seconds, Randidly rapidly wove Nether to stabilizing the flow of energy upward through all three legs.

Which of course, only meant that Randidly had to grit his teeth and work doubly hard to weave Aether and Nether together at the apex, where those three surging rivers of energies smashed together into a chaotic squall of meaning and images. Even as Randidly frantically worked, he could feel the horrible reverberations and the bright flashes of light that were occurring in his inner world. Perhaps even more disturbing, Randidly could slowly feel his Class beginning to stir in sympathy.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Manipulation has grown to Level 205!

Gritting his teeth, Randidly’s emerald eyes flashed as he took several very liberal risks with the arrangement of Nether within the apex. At this point, he had no choice; Obviously the core would be the newly condensed Fate, so he carefully scrawled out a ‘bubble’ of runes that were drawn with Nether. Unfortunately, Nether was a chaotic material to work with. It was not as easily molded as Aether. There were variances even while Randidly was drawing the runes.

“Good enough,” Randidly muttered as he started hastily clearing out the nodes of Aether that he created to slow down the energy’s journey to the apex. The shape of the bubble was present, so even as the Nether wiggled strangely away from his desired construction, he continued to usher the energy upward. Grimacing, Randidly removed the last of the roadblocks and allowed the energy and meaning to pour into the waiting bubble.

Don’t you dare pop on me now...

There was a terrible rumbling, but the bubble held. Even as an ever brighter burning light began growing in that seething container of Nether, Randidly could only rather helplessly return his attention to the three trembling legs and check in on them. Aether surged forward from his touch and repaired the deformed bits, resulting in them returning to the pristine condition Randidly remembered seeing from the official apparatus. Although at this point, in a quite modified format.

With narrowed eyes, Randidly tried his best to ignore the increasingly loud rumbles and focus on the functioning of the legs; he didn’t want an oversight like missing the amount of energy the legs could handle to happen again. Better to inspect the workings while he had a spare moment and head off a problem before it appeared.

Unwilling, Randidly glanced up at the bubble. It almost looked like a light bulb at the top of a pyramid shapes lamp. Although, that’s clearly going to be a problem eventually...

Yet Randidly pulled his attention back down and began an exacting scrutiny of the legs. Each of the many moving pieces of Aether passed through his careful study. And honestly, it seemed like another problem was rapidly manifesting. Or rather, a different side of the same oversight was becoming apparent.

Because as Randidly studied the legs as they worked, he noticed how more and more of the tiny Aether constructions within activated and swiveled down to carve out smaller and smaller bites of energy from the foci that he had prepared. Very quickly, it became clear that the apparatus was shifting to a finer touch to carve out meaning and energy as time went on.

Likely an individual simply wouldn’t have this much energy to spare after the apparatus had worked for this long. Yet none of the three pools of energy that Randidly had prepared were even close to two-thirds of the way drained.

The hiltless blade released a helpless keen of despair. Chulroon’s chisel hummed in sympathy. Waves of power continued to roll off of the metaphysical representation of the Alpha Cosmos that Randidly had offered up. These were nowhere near done.

In for a penny, in for a pound…

Randidly could only growl and engage the Aether directly so that the larger energy extraction portions of the legs once more engaged. Huge chunks of energy were siphoned up through the legs, beginning tempered and smoothed out, then being dumped into the quickly filling sphere at the apex of the pyramid.

The light at the top grew to be blinding. Randidly could feel the heat of it even with his physical body. Too much power was concentrated in that one spot. It crashed against other images and influences, trying to find the shape that it would finally take. Randidly could almost feel its chaotic pursuit.

It’s reaching for something. Randidly thought in wonder. Yet he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted for long.

While one part of his mind continued to extract energy, another part began to weave an even larger working of Nether around the first. It quickly attached and supported the original bubble against the ever-rising pressure held within.

Randidly’s inner world rumbled once more. So jarringly that Randidly’s mental tendrils seized up for a brief second. Almost unwillingly, Randidly allowed his attention to be dragged sideways to his Class, which was now slowly beginning to hum to life. For several seconds Randidly stared at the Class, thinking hard.

He knew that Fates were tied to the Class of an individual. Or at least heavily influenced by them. A Class was perhaps the spiritual mother of the Fate if images were the father. Now, to see it move… all of the worries that Randidly held about his Class suddenly made themselves apparent.

Randidly hadn’t thought about the process too deeply, but his brow furrowed as his senses quickly examined his Class. A Class that was divided into six sessions with five other ‘interest groups’ adding to the original working that he had made. There were a lot of dreams tied into Randidly Ghosthound. A lot of names for the wishes that were embodied in his Class.

Lord of the Baleful Wood

Loyal Benefactor of the Weak

Lighthouse of the Boundless Worlds

Lodestone of the Black Wanting