Chapter 1564 (2/2)

Even his most patient version of himself had to admit that sometimes, it was very difficult to achieve an understanding of the self by simply remaining in one place. Using the Fatepiece would cause a reaction. Just Randidly had no idea what it would be.

“But is obsession really the emotion I want to be pursuing in order to understand myself…?” Randidly mused. Yet as he said that aloud, he unrolled the Fatepiece. As he did so, he recalled the notification that he had received when he had obtained it.

Congratulations! You have obtained the third piece of your Fateset, the Visage of Obsession Lvl 1! The Alchemist is differentiated from the common man by one simple truth: he will not stop on his Path until he discovers the key ingredient to create the impossible. Yet even the great Alchemist cannot completely escape the flaws of his mortal coil, at least not without a reagent. The Visage of Obsession is the ever-shifting reflection of the Alchemist’s determination that borders on madness. To a mundane viewer, it is just a painting. Yet to the Alchemist, it is a potent catalyst to cleave the user’s mind from the limitations of a worldly perspective. In the depths of Obsession, reality begins to fragment.

A strong enough desire can warp reality.

Warning: Once usage of the Visage of Obsession begins, its use can only be delayed, never stopped. The user will experience ten trials that will test the limits of his obsession. There will be a cost to passing each trial.

“But what the notification says is true,” Randidly whispered as he completely unrolled the scroll and looked at it directly. To his surprise, it was a rather bland watercolor painting, with the sky being a melty mixture of seafoam greens and robin’s egg blues while the foreground contained an arching orange-red lump. Toward the bottom of the lump, it faded to brown and then black. “I will not stop until I can accomplish the impossible.”

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 3!

At least it seems like I can gain Levels in my Fatepiece here, even if I can’t do the same with Skills, Randidly mused. I wonder why that is…? Because a Fatepiece has an internal, predetermined growth Path…?

As Randidly stared intently at the painting, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting. But what he began to observe were the slow changes of the color composition of the piece. Stretches of pure emerald expanded and contracted across the top like clouds driven by an overwhelming wind. Flashes of orange and yellow manifested in the lump along the bottom. Gradually, the fuzzy edges of the colors narrowed a bit so each small piece was distinct, giving the mound the kaleidoscope colors of fall.

Randidly paused in his viewing to confirm that the emotional tether was still present. To his relief, it was, but his Absolute Timing Skill gave him a shock in that reprieve; he had been staring at the Fatepiece for almost ten minutes already.

Is this the cost? Randidly wondered. Losing an increasing amount of time without noticing it…

When he once again looked at the Fatepiece, this time he could feel the process of it activating. It was like his attention was like a pitcher of water that he dumped into the painting. He constantly generated more and more emotions and focus which was just dumped into the Fatepiece without end. As his liquid attentiveness was poured forward in an unending stream, the painting gradually began to fill. As it filled, the content of the colors on the Fatepiece began to whirl forward.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 4!

The colors along the ground, because it was becoming increasingly obvious that the mound in the foreground was supposed to be the ground, continued to twinkle like stars, orange, red, yellow. The sky was runny like whisked eggs, blues and greens growing amorphous and mixing. Randidly blinked and felt himself moving forward. Or rather the perspective of the painting rolled smoothly forward. Everything was melting together.

Subconsciously, Randidly’s breaths began to accelerate. He leaned forward and frowned deeply at the Visage of Obsession.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 6!

What? That notification shook some of the Fatepiece’s hold on Randidly. Wasn’t it Level 4 previously? Did I… really missing the previous Level up…?

Yet while his thoughts had wandered, his eyes had remained on the painting. So just as quickly as he had been shocked away, he fell back into the shifting colorscape in his hands. The blues of the sky were darkening toward royal blue, while the greens were growing paler. And in the foreground… something was approaching. Randidly floated forward over a hill and arrived at an arching stretch of black: a heavy stone bridge.

And standing in front of that bridge was a figure.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece the Visage of Obsession has grown to Level 9!

Congratulations! Your Skill Absolute Timing (Ru) has grown to Level 172!

It’s been a full day since I started staring at this thing, Randidly chewed on his lip. In the grand scheme of things, a day was worth very little to him. But he expected that the cost in time would continue to steadily rise as he used it. That made his gaze harden a little further. I suppose then, it depends on how effective this is at truly opening my mind… I don’t feel much different yet, but the tests every ten Levels should be the key improvements.

If it ends up being worth it… I might need to go deeper just so time is even more dilated.

But again, Randidly’s thoughts faded away as he refocused on the colors in front of him. The ground gleamed and flashed like a searing river of lava. And the details of the dark figure slowly came into focus.

Yystrix, drawn in heavy and rough strokes that slightly blurred the features that she had stolen from Lyra, looked up at him from the canvas. She smiled sweetly. “Hello, Randidly. It’s been a while.”