Chapter 1412 (2/2)
Visualization was one of Randidly’s core Skills, allowing him to utilize images more efficiently. So taking that Path to increase his image’s power further was very appealing. The Shadow Beyond the Threshold seemed related to Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold, which was a Skill that Randidly was continually surprised by. Empowering it was sure to result in Randidly receiving a large benefit.
And in fact, as Randidly considered his five options, he activated Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold. The purple-black energy filled with twinkling orange and emerald stars covered his body. He gazed deeply at his options for a long time, peering into casualty to see if he could intuit the results of taking each Path.
Of course, all his information was speculative. So very quickly, the future broadened into meaningless ambiguities. So just as quickly as he summoned the energy he dismissed it with a small smile on his face. The revelation was only a tool. Instead, Randidly pressed his eyes closed. All this is fine… but what do I want…?
In the center of his being, three images spun slowly. Growth, survival, obsession. Each began to resonate slightly as Randidly’s mind followed his desires.
What will bring me closer to what I want?
Just as Randidly was about to choose a Path, a message came from Octavius. He asked Randidly’s forgiveness for the delay on his reply but explained that he and Vualla were still dealing with some small issues that had cropped up since her return. Apparently her citizenship status was somewhat sensitive. But, to answer Randidly’s immediate question, Octavius gave him a mostly positive answer: Dungeons probably were likely harmless.
Be careful with your Nether while you are within the Dungeon, it might affect the surrounding space in special ways. But there are no secret tests or tribulations from spending too much time in the Dungeon. Just Aether Sickness. Octavius wrote. Your situation is pretty unique. Most people in the Nexus have more time than they know what to do with. They don’t need to stretch their time out even further in order to increase their power.
Randidly grinned at the message. “Thank god.”
Already, he was making plans for his trip into the Dungeon. Different weaknesses Randidly identified in himself and projects he needed to focus on were added to a quickly growing mental list and filed away for later. As Randidly continued to stand on his island with a grin on his face, he began rapidly ordering the list into descending importance.
Then with a blink, Randidly looked back at the Path screen in front of him. “One thing at a time I guess. And since I know I’ll be in the Dungeon soon anyway…”
As Randidly tossed the 650th PP into the Path, he completed it.
Congratulations! Your have completed the Greater Visualization Path! There are many Paths forward, but it simply isn’t true that all routes can be traversed by mundane means. The further toward the Pinnacle you travel, the bleaker the terrain becomes. As you walk forward, you pass unmarked graves and shards of broken blades littering the ground. The Path leads forward, yet passing through the broken ground leaves you without sight of your destination.
Dirt and bones soaked in blood have slowly oxidized, resulting in a vast stretch of grey-green wasteland as you travel upward on this vast slope. As you gaze at the surroundings, it is obvious that this is a playground of disease and death. Fissures into the abyss are laying beyond ever lip of ground, gleefully waiting to take the lives of the unwary. They are so prevalent that you begin to wonder if this vast mountain you have spent so long climbing is hollow.
And that makes you wonder what forms the foundation of this path toward the Pinnacle.
Gas seeps upward from cracks in the ground; visibility becomes increasingly scarce as your legs carry you up the slope. If the goal has vanished, you at least trust that upward is forward. With the creeping mist comes an increased danger from the faults in the ground beneath your feet. As your speed slows to avoid danger, silence descends to hush all but the sound of your own breath. Trailing behind you, your shadow laying against the surrounding mist is your only companion in this broken land.
Yet as you continue upward along the mountain path, the tint of the mist around you changes. While at first appearing to be innocuous steam, it now thickens and curdles like milk left out to sit under the beating sun. The scent of it is heavy and clings to the roof of your mouth as you continue to breathe. The sound of air passing through your throat is rough.
What follows the curdling of the mist is the darkness. Perhaps it is simply your imagination, but under the cover of the surrounding shroud, a greedy darkness is reaching its cold fingers out to grasp at your flickering life. Its long tongue slips up through the gashes in the ground and laps up your sweat.
But the darkness is not even the final shift. As the mist around you deepens and darkness begins to dance, your shadow steadily twists and shudders. Its joints silently twitch. One sharp, broken movement at a time, it warps into a monster. Each of your breaths cause the twisted creature trailing behind you to shudder with repressed hatred. The change weighs on your mind.
To reach this place… have you become… a monster…?
Randidly’s mouth slowly stretched into a grimace as he continued to read the notification he had received for finishing the Path. he was already in a bad mood because the Path only gave 2 free Stats every 50 PP, but now, to receive this sort of dreadful notification…
And along with the notification came a series of sweeping images that seemed injected directly into his mind. While Randidly read through the words in front of him, Randidly’s consciousness turned foggy as though he had gone into his Dreamcatcher. Then he was somewhere else, living the notification as he read it. He felt the sandy ridges of bone, dirt, and dried blood beneath his feet. He looked down into the darkness of those fissures and could not see the bottom, even with his powerful Grim Intuition.
When the mist came, he tasted the moisture on the air. He saw the strangely corporeal form of his shadow behind him. With a mild gaze, he watched it shift from a humanoid to a twisted demon of violence. In the same moment, a wave of insidious mental energy blasted forward to hit Randidly’s images. It seemed that by completing this Path, Randidly had volunteered himself for some sort of mental test.
Is it because I chose the Greater Visualization Path? Or perhaps because my images are a certain, requisite strength? Or even because I broke through the physical limit…? Perhaps it is for the best that I didn’t try to complete a bunch of Paths at once… Randidly hummed to himself, suspended in the reading of the notification. Sensing another wave of mental attacks, he quickly refocused.
That strange energy sought to use such a transformation to weaken Randidly, but it found no purchase on his will as the waves of energy lashed out. The shift in his shadows only caused Randidly to release a bark of laughter. Have I become a monster? Of course, I have. To survive, I became the Grim Chimera. And I will continue changing as I need to in order to survive and accomplish my goal.
Yet you cannot stop now. Take this gift, so that your corpse might trudge just a little further into the grip of the darkness before it collapses and feeds the horror that slumbers here.
Certainly, this notification is the most sinister that I’ve ever received… Rather than the System trying to attack me, this just seems like… the System has given in to despair...
Congratulations! You have finished the Greater Visualization Path! Willpower +50 and Wisdom +20. Congratulations! Your Skill Visualization has evolved into Greater Visualization (A)-
Synchronicity detected! Calculating…
Congratulations! Your Skill Visualization has evolved into Conviction of the Smiling Horror (L)! Skill Level will be maintained. Your ability to conjure details has slightly increased! Your ability to broaden the number of details in your image has vastly increased!
“Mission… accomplished…?” Randidly rubbed his chin contemplatively.