Chapter 1572 (1/2)
Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 312!
Congratulations! Your Skill Experienced Creator’s Ingenuity (A) has grown to Level 180!
…
Congratulations! Your Skill Architecture of the Primordial Ways (M) has grown to Level 312!
At first, Randidly was somewhat worried that his exhausted state after expending all that emotional energy would mean that the final Engraving would be less than satisfactory. But whether it was due to the mental clarity of the Visage of Obsession or because all of his distracting frustrations he had been carrying were removed, he performed perfectly during the Engraving. The movements of his fingers across the Black Gold arm were smooth. The flow of Mana from fingertip to metal was clean.
Each runic sigil was sharp and distinct. The edges were perfectly luminous. Randidly couldn’t actually see the result, but his senses were telling him that the result was near ideal. As he finished the arm, he pulled back and silently clicked his tongue in satisfaction. Even if the gesture made no noise, he appreciated the physical sensation of impact within his mouth.
These Skill Level notifications are a useless distraction, but it’s true that it feels like there’s been an overall change in the way I Engrave… the continued practice for a Nether Core has bourne fruit. This Black Gold arm… hum, perhaps that name isn’t accurate any longer…? Should I call it Black Blood metal…? Or Blood Gold… or Blood-Black Brass…?
Well, it doesn’t matter. With a flourish, Randidly added the final line of injected Mana to the arm in front of him. It flashed brightly as the energy flowed through the entire piece of equipment. Underneath Randidly’s careful scrutiny, the arm demonstrated that there were no flaws; the energy flowed through the Engraving without any leakage. Finally, Randidly allowed satisfaction to take root in his heart. The arm floating in front of him was like a torch in the isolated Nether of his bubble, yet didn’t suffer at all due to the environment. He had completely succeeded.
He reached out and pressed his fingers against the equipment, viewing its Stats.
The Ghosthand Baptized by the Abyss (M) Level 99: A profoundly warped left arm of Randidly Ghosthound. The design, workmanship, and execution of this arm have approached the limits of mortal hands. In addition, many powerful energies in the environment have pushed the material beyond the realms of the physical. This piece of equipment has vast potential, but it remains to be seen how that will affect the limb.
Aether and Nether are able to mix freely within the limb. Slight boost to the usage of both Aether and Nether when channeling through this limb.
Vitality and Endurance +100. Agility +30 and Control +50.
Specter of the Ghosthound ???. Breath from the Depths ???. Emotional Resonance ???.
But as Randidly began to frown at the aspects of his equipment, more notifications popped up in front of him.
Warning! Error detected. Due to interference, unable to completely examine the chosen equipment. Please proceed to the nearest Village Spirit for additional details.
Warning! Failing to seek assistance from a Village Spirit may result in sickness and death.
That familiar refrain earned a strong eyebrow twitch from Randidly. Like Hell I’m going to go out and talk to a Village Spirit after all this time, even if I wasn’t stuck in here… but seriously, the fucking significance below also interferes with me seeing the details…? But more importantly, I don’t love that Breath from the Depths… Does that mean the arm is somehow influenced by the pull of significance below…? But the term ‘breath’…
If Randidly were completely unwilling to take on the risk of the unknown attribute, it might be safest to simply destroy the arm, or at the very least, store it within his interspatial ring for the foreseeable future. He had been influenced by too many entities in the Nexus to react very positively when a surprise like this came up. But the term ‘breath’ made him hesitate. Perhaps he was overreacting.
Breath was passive. It wasn’t domineering or controlling. It was simply an exhale; an influence, sure, but one likely generated by proximity. Considering the fact that Randidly was already to escape from this place… his main worry was that the aspect would somehow make it even more difficult to escape from this place.
Yet Randidly also knew that having his arm back would raise the efficiency of his training. And he could start incorporating more of his typical combat training into his routine down here. While he was armless, he generally avoided any sort of meaningful combat training so as not to develop bad habits for when he had both limbs. For that reason, he knew his dubious Skill growth (with the repeating Skill Levels) was slower than it needed to be.
Assuming that the Skill growth was real, just masked by the significance here, he would have a pile of PP waiting for him when he escaped. The bigger that pile was, the closer he would be to receiving his Alpha Cosmos Tithe. Power in the Nexus was mostly based on Aether images and Randidly was now investing heavily in finally obtaining concrete power with his usage of Nether, but that didn’t mean that the original milestones of power stopped being effective.
When Randidly gathered enough Stats, he would create a mound that could even let him drag down the most powerful individuals in the Nexus. He trusted that. Even now, further Stat points would push him further toward the realm of impossibility. With the System limit broken and in his rear-view mirror, there was no reason not to keep pushing forward. His Aether Crossroads would supply him with enough energy to develop beyond all recognition.
With the time advantage these arrogant individuals had over him, he wasn’t going to refuse any benefit he could accrue.