Chapter 1600 (1/2)

“So the next giver of the Fatepiece is Shal, huh,” Randidly said quietly to himself as he exited the underground tunnel. After finding out his solution, he and Nathaz talked a little bit further, especially about the capabilities of the Aether Scanning equipment. This led to Nathaz excitedly explaining how he had learned of the name of Randidly’s Fatepiece, which included a depiction of the associated image.

Randidly could tell from a single look at that individual that the next Fatepiece was coming from Shal. And honestly, he held quite a bit of anticipation toward a reunion with his original teacher. What would Shal think of his growth…?

Hopefully, my subconscious’s opinion on the subject is grossly off base… Randidly thought ruefully.

On his way back through the underground offices didn’t run into Neshamah Rex again, so he quickly returned to the surface. He took another long glance upward at the massive Engraving Guild pyramid and pursed his lips. Then he turned and walked slowly back toward the exit into the Web.

The news about his next Fatepiece was interesting, but not useful. In fact, Randidly would have ignored the news immediately if not for one detail. After all, Shal had vanished since he had ascended and allowed his planet to pass the Second Calamity. No matter how many messages Randidly sent, Shal didn’t respond.

But Nathaz Eloise had added that Shal and his Fatepiece were currently in the Fifth Cohort. Which brought Randidly back to the issue the same difficulty he had been puzzling apart his entire walk over here. His expression was thoughtful as he continued through the sandy streets as he considered his options.

He had already sent a request to Lady Iellaya, but she had replied while Randidly was speaking to Nathaz; they were blocking her ability to allow Randidly to serve under her for this war against the Nether. Military High Command didn’t vocally say anything, but some new regulations were aimed in that direction very obviously.

If Randidly wanted to go to the Fifth Cohort and participate, it was either as a volunteer or as an aide to Commandant Wick-

Randidly straightened abruptly. His Nether Core trembled. One of his connections was rapidly weakening.

And this connection was one of his strongest. His heartbeat quickened and his palms began to sweat as adrenaline flooded through his body.

He didn’t hesitate at all; Randidly Ghosthound produced his Philosopher’s Key and opened a portal directly to his destination. His shoulders trembling with the potent chemical flight-or-flight reaction within a System empowered body, Randidly stepped forward... and soon found himself standing over the cooling body of Raymund Ballast.

The Stillborn Phoenix devoured his emotions as soon as they flared to life in his chest. His attention became razor sharp and glacially still.

Randidly’s emerald eyes swept back and forth across the stone path, the discarded esophagus, and the drying blood. Then he briefly peered up toward the mountain. He could catch the hint of some obscured and mysterious significance upon the rocky summit that he had missed by only a few seconds. But just as quickly, the Ghosthound crouched down and pressed his hand to Raymund’s shoulder. Through the touch, Randidly unleashed a gushy blast of Vitality.

Yggdrasil rumbled. The massive brown swelled to the size of a skyscraper. The World Tree’s roots rumbled through the ground, seeming to want to crush the ground beneath it into power. Randidly’s gaze on Raymund intensified. Wave after wave of revitalizing energy was shoved into the fox man’s body.

And when his fading body didn’t respond to that, Randidly brought his other hand to Raymund’s shoulder. In his right had flowed Aether and in his left Nether. These he plugged directly into the apparatus of energy that was Raymund Ballast, in the eyes of the System.

His Soulspace was collapsing, but it hadn’t disintegrated yet. With burning eyes, Randidly held up the walls of his recruit’s soul. And then Randidly waited because that was all he could do.

In those long moments, he swore to himself that if Raymund died, he would chase the culprit to the end of the world. And then he would annihilate that individual, starting first with his body but also completely eroding his or her image.

A split second after that slightly crazed oath, the Foxman gasped and shivered.

Slowly at first, but then with more surety, his flesh began to knit back together. Raymund Ballast would not die this day.

Snorting, Randidly stood once again. Wreathed in the ethereal flames of Weight, he looked again up at the mountain above him for a long time. Someone had activated a very powerful working of Nether there. He could see the way that whoever had attacked Raymund had created a bridge deep into the folded space within the dominion of Nether above-

And speaking of that space… Randidly grimaced as he turned to gaze upward to the sudden developments in the sky. But although he was furious at the distraction, he was somehow comforted; now he had a concrete object towards which he could direct his significant ire. A rumbling wave of Nether swept out of some distant abyss and spread out to cover the space between the dark moon and this planet, but it also expanded to fill the surrounding solar system.

Randidly narrowed his eyes as he traced the way the Nether rapidly spun together in discrete threads and wove a great working in the sky. This… heh, shit. So this is what a true Nether King can accomplish…

The pieces of Nether moved independently from each other. They resembled the wild and newly spawned tadpoles in a shallow pond. They were flakes of dark snow spiraling toward the ground. Even after looking for ten seconds at the furious spree of activity, he could barely grasp the underlying principles on which the flood of Nether behaved.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 394!

And then the Nether above the planet changed.

Although a significant portion of his attention was on Yggdrasil pumping life through the coughing and hiccuping Raymund Ballast, Randidly also considered the sky with solemn attention. Admiration rose in his heart as he saw the deft way that disparate and chaotic strands of Nether very quickly became recognizable and meaningful patterns. The chaotic tadpoles crystalized into a perfectly warped kaleidoscope. A few seconds later, these patterns clicked together in a way that seemed perfectly natural and all of the space in the area of these two celestial bodies became bonded.