Chapter 1545 (2/2)
They had likely accumulated fragmented insights by being within the sphere of his energy, but his presence had triggered all those insights to come together into a tangible form. He filled the silences with opportunities and the recruits had largely seized them and improved. Aside, of course, from the two troublemakers who were having such difficulty with fusing their wills with their images.
The Soulskill Tithe would arrive after he spent 1750 more PP. So this chunk put him halfway to that goal. Randidly allowed the ghost of a smile to dance across his face, then closed the menu. Both of the Inscrutable Mien of Yggdrasil and the Implacable Price of Exodus had reached their limits; his improvements for both stalled out. So for now, he sat and continued to meditate on All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth.
For the very silly reason that this was one of the last instances of the word ‘Earth’ that the System didn’t automatically translate to Expira, Randidly was slightly hesitant to try and force a change. In addition, the effect was already quite powerful. If Randidly thought about a desired goal, the Skill would separate his fate and move through those parallel possibilities until he found a self where he could accomplish the desired task. Then, for a few seconds, he would possess the power of that alternate self.
Honestly, Randidly had to assume that the Skill was based upon some Nether principles, because he hadn’t ever seen a similar effect-
Randidly paused. Then his eyes widened. The alternates…!
Hopping to his feet with a touch, Randidly went to his window. His eyes were blank as he looked out at the flows of significance connecting all the recruits resting below. Very quickly, the flows of Nether moved through their bodies and mixed between each other. The recruits had mostly grown used to the subtle reinforcement and barely noticed.
But now that Randidly was looking he could see possibilities floating around the flows. Without knowing exactly what he was doing, Randidly wished and pushed against the flows… and with a strange meta-physical tremor, the entire system of Nether snapped into a new position. After several strange eddies of Nether circled around for a few moments, the energy settled onto a new path. The flows were now pointing in different positions, with energy flowing to new places for new reasons.
“There are multiple different pathways. And… I think they can be layered. That’s why Neshamah’s Nether...” Randidly whispered to himself. He pressed again. And then again.
Some of the recruits paused in their rest and frowned. The sensation wasn’t exactly painful, but the rapid series of shifts was… strange to experience. Like a noise of which you couldn’t determine the source. Meanwhile, Randidly’s eyes glowed as he realized that some of the pressure he had been enduring was alleviated further by his significance flowing along new pathways.
At the moment, Randidly could only find about four different natural Nether configurations. But even that was enough. He took several deep breaths and watched the Nether flows for almost two hours. After carefully studying one of the new ones, Randidly closed his eyes and attempted to directly control the way Nether was moving. He gritted his teeth and tried to maintain both the original flow and the new one, on top of each other. The flows would move amongst one another, but not hinder the other at all.
Two independent systems would be stacked on top of each other.
Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 329!
Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 330!
Very quickly, friction began to emerge between the Nether flows. With a sigh, Randidly released his grip on the Nether. But he couldn’t help a smile from blooming across his face. He wasn’t currently in the mindset to work on this, but he had finally identified the beginnings of improving his Nether.
Besides, Randidly had to leave soon for the inter-Drill Sergeant Challenge. Patting his chest to calm himself down, Randidly walked toward the door, where Heiffal had gathered up the recruits below. It was time to head out.
But as he neared the door, Randidly paused lightly. Even without Randidly turning to look over, Sulfur began to buzz with annoyance. With a wry smile on his face, Randidly left. Okay, okay, no rush on the armor. There shouldn’t be any problems at this challenge anyway…
Randidly Ghosthound’s face transformed into a glower as he adopted his Head Drill Sergeant persona. He carefully studied the faces of his recruits and then turned away without comment. This time, he had obtained the location of their challenge, so he marched directly there, heading down through the tunnels to the wide underground training facilities. Then Randidly walked up to the observation platform and pushed open the door.
Randidly’s eyes swept through the gathered Drill Sergeants. With a smirk on his face, his images blasted outward. But after a single aggressive step into the room, Randidly stopped dead.
As soon as his images hit a certain man standing in the back next to Lay’mel Tuuellethe, those images were completely devoured. There wasn’t even a hint of struggle; they just disappeared. The person in question was a tall, muscular man with bare arms that were covered in tattoos. He had a massive sword on his back that was covered in glowing runes.
The man grinned at Randidly as soon as he arrived. His eyes began to glow a pale blue. Then he reached up behind his back, as though to draw his sword.