Chapter 1426 (1/2)

Within the Dungeon and without any pressing external threats, Randidly easily fell into a very productive routine. The days flowed ceaselessly past, giving him the space and leisure to alternate between physically manifesting his images, researching Engraving, expanding plans for Kharon Academy, and simply spending time refining the details of his images.

Interspersed with these activities were clashes against Helen and rather long meetings with Gertrude and Sam. Not that Randidly was complaining about the duo’s enthusiasm for the subject matter, but Gertrude especially sometimes made Randidly regret inviting her into the Dungeon. She seemed to take a great deal of joy in deconstructing his rather haphazard previous plans for the Academy and listing a litany of terrible consequences that would have resulted without her input on the current project.

Truthfully, she also taught Randidly quite a bit about teaching. But it did feel like it was a matter that could have been addressed in a more delicate manner. Randidly didn’t mean to claim he had any idea what he was doing when he arranged for Kharon’s education system. They had just needed something.

On top of his flattened mountain peak, Randidly shook his head and stood. He raised his arms and enjoyed the pleasant sensation of his shoulder and neck popping. The sun was just now peeking above the horizon and it was time to finish with his meditative recovery session. It had been one month since the group had come into the Dungeon, and the benefits were starting to pile up.

There’s nothing better than being able to train for an extended period of time, Randidly reflected as he watched the light of the dawn filtering down into the valley below.

The Riders had basically explored the whole of the Dungeon at this point and were now beginning to gather the more valuable raw materials for later use. Although Sam had dragged his feet in agreeing to throw his support behind the Kharon Academy project, he was delighted to experiment with some of the raw materials in an effort to refine them into an even more powerful form. This experimentation continued to the point that Randidly worried what amount of materials would remain when they left the Dungeon.

Randidly didn’t spend much time observing the thirty-two children that they had brought, but Gertrude seemed extremely pleased with their progress. Apparently Ed Dugg was an excellent teacher, aside from the fact that he often included irrelevant information as important as he taught.

Randidly’s focus was mainly on Tim’s growth. And according to Lucretia, what Tim didn’t possess in talent he made up with hard work.

The Kharon police force was improving quickly, as well. But to be fair, it would be shocking if they didn’t improve with Helen and Ajax lighting a fire under their asses. It was only because everyone around him fell so naturally into training that Randidly had a lot of time to dedicate to his own pursuits.

Specifically, the balancing of his three images.

A month had seen Randidly progress from barely able to balance his images while fighting to being at least able to dodge and lash out at enemies while maintaining his manifested image form. Basic Skill use no longer destabilized his efforts in a split second. The reflection chamber of the Xyrt Brigade was invaluable in this effort. With it, Randidly could get a better grasp of the base balance at any time and would recover more quickly during his training attempts.

Of course, Randidly was also aware that his increasing success rate was also related to the fact that his images were altering the Aether within the Dungeon. He was somewhat helpless in the face of this fact. He could limit the spread of his image by focusing on it, but it made it that much more difficult to keep his images balanced while a portion of his Willpower was keeping his influence under control.

After a few days of reflection, Randidly had decided that it was better to train himself than worry about the environment in the Dungeon. So he shrugged his shoulders and let it happen. Instead, he continued to practice. He hadn’t started activating multiple Skills and images at once, but soon he felt confident he could reach that point.

In his body, Randidly’s three images were gradually settling together in a harmonious form.

Plus, the physical effects of this training were soon making themselves known. Even Randidly was slightly alarmed at how physically powerful he was becoming. Although his Stats didn’t change, every movement of his carried with it the passive hint of his three images. More than a hint, at this point; it seemed the specter of the Grim Chimera cast a long shadow over each of his limbs. His gaze pierced with the horrible cravings of the Stillborn Phoenix. Each beat of his heart sent a golden pulse through Randidly’s veins.

His images were becoming an increasingly large part of his daily life. As such, even a basic attack had the characteristics of a pseudo-Skill. The power he could wield with a simple movement could shatter space if he wasn’t paying close attention.

Which meant that a little bit of his time had to be spent simply moving without any conscious images so that he understood his current capabilities. From there he practiced his passive fighting related Skill. His proficiency steadily increased. Gradually, Randidly felt the usage of ripping through the physical limitation of the Nexus becoming clearer to him.

Of course, the change to his body wasn’t a unilaterally positive shift. As he had previously noted, the drops of liquid Aether that Randidly had thus far condensed began to unravel as he put more focus on his images becoming physical manifestations. At this point, the amount of liquid Aether that Randidly possessed had fallen to only three drops. He planned on continuing to empower his body with his images, but Randidly didn’t think he should let his amount of liquid Aether ever drop below two drops. At least not until he had a better understanding of where his new power-level fit in the Nexus.

Randidly sighed and shook himself as he began to walk down from his peak. There are two problems with being in the Dungeon, however. The first is that I need to be careful about practicing Nether… the Aether constructs inside the Dungeon seem delicate enough that I don’t even dare to use Nether Ritual. And the second thing… liquid Aether and my images physically affecting me are both fueled by emotion of a certain depth. The process of increasing that is very slow in this peaceful environment…

In one or two more months, I’ll have basically reached the limit of improving my physical form… then it’s just a matter of increasing my proficiency in balancing the images…