Chapter 1368 (2/2)

Honestly, if there hadn’t been a challenge, Randidly had no idea how his body would have shifted in a low-pressure situation. Some part of him still needed an external threat to push his body so far beyond what the human body was used to.

Once he was able to stabilize in response to the swirling Aether Mine array, Randidly did his best to ignore the constant pain and instead marvel at the physical changes that had come over his body. Obviously he had started this training to improve his ability to break past the veil of mental restriction that Randidly felt, but the results were so much more than that. His entire body had been gradually strengthened by the practice in ways that even Randidly wasn’t sure about yet.

At the same time, Randidly felt the veil had steadily moved closer to him as his body had grown stronger. Now, floating in the mixture, it wasn’t even an arm's length away. With a quick movement, Randidly could rip through that barrier and-

Randidly.

The surprising touch of Neveah’s mind on his own combined with the constant distraction of the pain made Randidly briefly lose that careful sense of rhythm that allowed his body to suppress the Aether Mines. The Aether Mines exploded outward, shifting out of the spinning array that was currently giving him so much trouble and returning to their prior formation.

Of course, this expansion meant that the pain sharply decreased. With that little bit of extra help, Randidly quickly reasserted his control and pushed the Aether Mines back toward one small spot at his core. Once more they began to rotate furiously, but they were safely controlled. Only then could he spare the attention for Neveah. Yes? What is it?

That swirling formation of Aether Mines. Neveah’s consciousness was there with Randidly, indicating different sections that she was focusing on. Do you see the contraction? Compared to other times, the resulting increase in polarity released by the Aether mines is much less than you would expect, considering the growth of the polarity in response to pressure so far.

Randidly’s mind was spinning a dozen plates. On the one hand, he was manipulating many parts of his body at once to create a surge in muscular strength while also doing his best to monitor and predict the waves of polarity produced by the Aether Mines. On the other hand, he was doing his best to ignore the sharp pain of housing such a condensed array of Aether Mines. So his response to Neveah was rather blank.

She chuckled mentally. ...well just believe me when I say that I think you tricked the Aether Mines somehow. Because of the rising strength of your body, you are producing a force that isn’t affiliated with any Skills… or from the perspective of the Aether Mines, a force that is not-produced by non-System Aether. And this spiral array…

Neveah paused, realizing that Randidly was basically not listening. Releasing another amused mental chuckle, Neveah just said. Just follow my lead. I think you are almost out of this. Do you have a little gas left in the tank?

Randidly just narrowed his eyes.

BADUMBADUMBADUMBADUMBADUMBADUMBADUM

The heat was practically unbearable even with the Stillborn Phoenix running damage control; Randidly’s entire body was wreathed in it. He could feel the water in the mixture around him beginning to boil. His skin grew increasingly red. But on the other hand, his muscles were practically gushing with power. It grew increasingly hard to control the muscle contractions, especially when Neveah tried to guide Randidly to guide the power of his body in a very specific manner.

Luckily, Neveah began intervening more directly in Randidly’s body, taking away a large portion of the mental load he was carrying. The pain was still a constant companion, but Randidly was at his physical peak. With Neveah taking half of the stress, he followed her in causing his body to precisely invert the rotation of polarity within the Aether Mines.

Which was extremely difficult, considering the Aether Mines were pressed into a small sphere-shaped space and Randidly was dealing with the muscles of his body. But Neveah and Randidly worked at the process for almost an hour, gradually adjusting the timing until it was perfect. By the end of it, Randidly’s body was exhausted and trembling from dealing with the heightened strain of his overheated state and the pain of the Aether Mines.

But just as he was ready to ask Neveah to take a break, something snapped into place. The physical force produced by his body slid perfectly into the rotation of polarity around the Aether Mines. Something there was a click. Then, first only a single one Aether Mine and then in a rippling cascade, the Aether Mines that Randidly held snapped onto one another and fell into an inert state.

After a minute, the Aether Mines had completely ceased their activity. Rather awkwardly, an exhausted Randidly hauled himself out of the tub, dried corn starch stuck to his clothes. He lay on his back and looked upward. With a wave of his hand, he drove away the silver mist and looked out at the sun sinking toward the horizon.

“This makes things…” Randidly blinked, still rather stunned. “Much simpler… if Kaan Swacc hasn’t shown up by now… he probably cannot sense they deactivated...”

We got lucky. Neveah replied. First, your physical body being so much… greater than an average person. Without the Alpha Cosmos altering you, you would have been insensible from the pain far before the point that rotational lock appears. Second, your ability to generate force without relying on Skills feeding on non-System Aether. But even with these things, we still only have two days to take advantage of this unexpected break.

Randidly looked down at his right hand in wonder. He could see the mental limitation hovering there, perhaps now only a hand’s length away from his body. Even as his heart rate slowed down, Randidly grinned. “I think two days will be plenty of time.”