Chapter 1362 (1/2)

If the heart was the engine, then food was the of the body fuel. And with his three cooking fires and Acri’s timely assistance, Randidly made a feast of breaded snake chops with a red wine sauce, roasted asparagus and red peppers, honeyed sweet potatoes, and buttered biscuits.

And then afterward, Randidly lay on the ground, looked up at the sky, and burped. “Maybe… I shouldn’t have eaten that much…”

For that one meal, Randidly had eaten fully a fourth of the cooking supplies that he had gathered. Honestly, it was ridiculous that his stomach would even withstand the weight of the food he consumed. It felt like he had been chucking food into a hole for all that it seemed to be physically present in his body.

Yet the strangest part was that after the meal, Randidly felt great. Like he was truly energized for the first time in quite a while. Since becoming accustomed to subsisting directly on Aether, Randidly had largely avoided meals. Not because he didn’t want them, but perhaps because he felt that he was too busy to bother most of the time.

But he could clearly feel that despite the fact that the energy fueling his body should be interchangeable, it felt more valuable coming from food. Even as Randidly sensed himself digesting the food almost as fast as he could eat it, it became easier and easier to immerse himself in the power of the human body with a good meal.

This is how a human becomes powerful. Grinning to himself, Randidly looked up toward the vast azure sky. It reminded Randidly of Vualla’s hair, a light blue that made him think of endless possibilities. From his vantage point in the grasslands, the clouds above seemed distant and endless. There was an open beauty to this place that he was slightly sorry to be about to destroy.

“Stillborn Phoenix… I’ll leave the beginnings of this in your hands,” Randidly said softly. In his chest, the egg of darkness stirred. Light began to bend around Randidly as an event horizon formed around him. The Stillborn Phoenix gripped the surrounding world and pulled everything into its hungry maw. With his new image, Randidly felt his understanding of Nether slowly changing. His Nether nebula spun, faster and faster.

Because it wasn’t just that there was a core and a bubble to the substance of Nether. There was the density and then there was the event horizon, the point by which the influence of the core is too powerful for the surrounding anything to escape. He had thought that the core that Randidly had been focusing on in the past was the density, but he now realized that it had been the event horizon.

The image was the source of density, the bending edge of light the event horizon, and then the energy field around him formed the bubble.

But of course, he activated his Nether very slowly. He was exceedingly careful to keep his Aether Mines within his Soulspace, where they wouldn’t interact with the Nether and suddenly reveal his secret to the Special Investigator. Pushing them into the one space was slightly painful, but Randidly figured this process would be fraught anyway. The pain wouldn’t hinder him at all

In the grasslands, the area immediately around Randidly was quickly ripped up and devoured as his Stillborn Phoenix image manifested and grew stronger. Then the grass a little bit farther away was torn to shreds by the presence of the image. And then the grass beyond that withered and died as the egg sucked in light and energy.

Carefully, Randidly brought his black hole to sit directly within his heart. Although using the Aether Mines to stimulate his body would work, it was painful and distracting. What Randidly wanted to do instead was directly stimulate his heart to increase the pace of its beats without pulling a veil of pain over his eyes.

Releasing a breath, Randidly wrapped his body in the Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold. Black and purple energy flowed across his limbs, filled with emerald and orange motes of light. Before his eyes, every inch of his body was suddenly drawn in sharp definition. Each stalk fo the rustling tall grass even a hundred meters away was crystal clear to Randidly. Most importantly, this allowed him to carefully monitor the situation of his organs.

Despite his high Physical Defense Stats, Randidly didn’t want to take any chances with what was about to happen.

Congratulations! Your Skill Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) has grown to Level 269!

With Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart, Randidly began using gravity to directly influence his own body. At first, the sensation was extremely strange, but his Control over the process was acute. He quickly localized the area that he needed to effect. Then, slowly, he began squeezing his own heart to increase his heart rate artificially.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Almost subconsciously, Randidly brought his left hand up to press against his chest. The alien beats could be felt even through his metal fingers. He released a long breath, gradually upping the frequency of the gravity pulses. His Grim Intuition sank into his muscles and veins. His lungs expanded and contracted. He followed the rapid flow of blood through his body. His focus was so acute that even the constant buzz from the Aether Mines fell away. All that remained was the determination to chase that feeling of power he had briefly experienced.

Randidly released another breath. As his blood pressure increased, he didn’t necessarily feel any more powerful than normal. But he definitely felt a growing heat in his chest. Even moment the Stillborn Phoenix sat at the core of him, it devoured a little more of that heat. But as Randidly rolled his shoulders and felt his heart begin to accelerate, that heat continued to spring forth.

Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump.

Randidly barred his teeth at the ground. His heart was slowly accelerating, but Randidly didn’t want to make use of the spare time that he had to take this process slowly. Even if it was safer, Randidly was honestly tired of training. He was tired of going into his Dreamcatcher and losing badly in fights. He was ready to finally discover this physical power that, by rights, was already his. He simply couldn’t find the means to seize it.

The people of Earth treated Randidly like he had transcended humanity, but it felt like every day Randidly was reminded how mortal he was. And Randidly wanted to live up to the Earth’s expectations.

He would not stop pushing until he could finally suppress Kaan Swacc.

With his Aether Mines contained to his Soulspace, Nether had free reign to run wild in the rest of his body. It flowed rapidly through his torso, arms, and legs in a shadowy reflection of his blood. His body began to twitch. Randidly’s emerald eyes slowly darkened. “Just… a bit more…”

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

Congratulations! Your Skill Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart (T) has grown to Level 217!

His body shook with each beat of his heart. His blood was whipping through his veins once more. But most of all, what dominated Randidly’s consciousness was that vast heat that rose from the depths of his body. The fuel was burning. The engine was beginning to rev upward. Rather than needing to be careful with the Stillborn Phoenix, the heat in his body needed the egg of darkness present so Randidly would sear his brain into a steaming pile of much.