Chapter 1700 (2/2)
The space and substance around him was being altered in a fundamental way. He was bridging the distance between the isolated space and the asteroid.
Why can’t… these things… ever be easy… Randidly raised his left hand at a glacially slow speed and pressed it against his chest. His Alpha Cosmos was shifting and the result was not pleasant. Randidly’s sensitivity toward images let him feel with brutal fidelity the forceful shifts of his own image as a new presence was dragged into his Soulskill.
In a way, the arrival of Expira there was cheating; it had simply become a part of his body in a very literal way when it housed his Nether Core. Meanwhile, this process had no subterfuge. Randidly was stuffing the asteroid into his Soulskill.
And had to experience a sensation akin to having an asteroid stuffed into his mouth, painfully warping his body in the process. Everything struggled to cope.
Congratulations! Your Skill Stigma of the Stillborn Phoenix (L) has grown to Level 335!
…
Congratulations! Your Skill Stigma of the Stillborn Phoenix (L) has grown to Level 342!
Eventually, the resonance rose to a piercing screech. Randidly’s body was increasingly rigid as the forces stretched his metaphysical self wider and wider. The Nether Ritual rippled… and then the asteroid in front of him was gone. His chest squeezed and twisted.
Randidly sagged a bit in the few seconds after the transition happened, but then he opened his mouth and unleashed a loud belch.
Or rather, it would have been loud in other circumstances. In space, he could only feel the powerful vibrations running through his exhausted body. Chuckling, he leaned back and allowed himself to just float for a while. He sent out several messages to his Pantheon and the Nemesai. Very quickly, he received pleased responses; the asteroid had successfully arrived in his Alpha Cosmos and they would begin work on the Calamity immediately.
Neveah had given them the Engravings they needed. All that was left was the assembly and the creation of the army of monsters.
Randidly pressed his eyes closed as he read the obvious enthusiasm that his subordinates displayed. It’s a necessary task. I know that. I shouldn’t hold their willingness to make these hard decisions against them…
Eventually, Randidly shook himself back to wakefulness from the brief rest. He glanced down at the floating world of Nrorce below him, but he made no move to return to the farm. Instead, Randidly pulled out his Philosopher’s Key and opened a portal directly back to Edraine’s hideout in that strange twilight neighborhood. The still air was somewhat of a relief after the ringing absence of space. He walked through the dimly lit halls and entered Octavius’ office.
The rhino man looked up from a tattered-looking scroll and tugged on his horn. “Good, good. I’ve got what you wanted.”
After rummaging on the desk for a while, he produced a thin slip of black plastic covered in golden lines. Randidly took the object and studied it closely as Octavius continued to speak. “That is your personal payment mark. I’ve deposited your wages, so you should have access to funds in the next day or so- ah, careful about looking at it too closely.”
Randidly felt the card becoming extremely chilling in his hand as he tried to study the shifting golden lines, so he averted his gaze for a bit. Gradually, the card calmed back down and became an ordinary piece of plastic. Randidly looked at Octavius and raised his eyebrows. “Even I, the owner, isn’t allowed to study it? Isn’t it my payment mark?”
“But the Engraving process that makes it work is a trade secret of the Currency Consortiums.” Octavius shrugged. “And getting a second mark if you lose your first requires a third of the value of your account, so… you can see that they take the security of their Engravings very seriously.”
Randidly nodded calmly and stored the mark inside his interspatial ring. He idly wondered whether the money inside was enough to purchase the planets he made promises about to the Nemesai. He also hoped that the discomfort from adding the asteroid to his Alpha Cosmos was a one-time thing, even as he knew in his heart that the larger planets would be even more troublesome to move. Meanwhile, he opened his mouth and asked a different question to Octavius. “So I heard that there was an attack… on the Swacc Family? By terrorists?”
“Terrorists? Ha!” Octavius shook his head and scowled. “They are blowing it out of proportion to turn an accident into a useful bit of propaganda; something weird is happening to the supply of raw Aether in the Nexus again and the NLC wants a scapegoat. Truthfully, it appears that a thief was simply stealing something from the Swacc Family when that individual triggered some sort of alchemic reaction from the facility, blowing the whole area up and trashing a Swacc Family secret base in the process.”
Randidly felt vaguely disappointed. He reached up and scratched at his head. “Just an accident, huh… That’s… too bad. I think the Swacc Family could use a few more enemies.”
“Hehe, on that count, you don’t need to be disappointed,” Octavius flashed a smile. “That’s why the issue became so big. To the public, its just a random explosion… but to all the powerful players in the Nexus, the Swacc Family has been clearly been experimenting with forbidden subjects. Unitarium was blasted everywhere by the reaction.”
“Unitarium?” Randidly tilted his head to the side.
Octavius gave Randidly a weird look. Then, when Randidly still was obviously confused, the humanoid rhino blinked. “I had assumed… well, I had assumed you would know what that was, considering your- Wait, you have a completely organic bond with Neveah?!?”
“Uh…” Now Randidly was really confused. “What?”
“I had assumed…” Octavius’ expression was somewhat vacant. Then he snapped back into focus and shook his head. “Incredible. An organic bond, in the flesh. And a balanced one, from the way you both survived your first trip to the shaft… Okay, let me backpedal. Unitarium is a substance that increases the likelihood of the creation of a successful Soulbound. The Champion of your Zone was actually quite rare; she came from a planet very rich in Unitarium, which was why some of your people had access to a Soulbond so early in the process of joining the System. But that also meant that the bond was easier to form… requiring only small amounts of Unitarium…”
Randidly was frowning as he attempted to understand what Octavius was saying.
Octavius raised his hands. “Okay, this is complicating the discussion. Generally, Soulbonds usually slide two ways once they are formed. The individuals either eventually disconnect due to their personalities being too different or one soul devours the other. Unitarium also serves as a balancing agent, keeping these bad outcomes from occurring. Very few… very few Soulbonds are simultaneously very much a part of each other’s lives and simultaneously have independent existences that allows the balance to be maintained organically. You and Neveah are very… special to have maintained that balance.”
The hairs on the back of Randidly’s neck prickled. Honestly… we hadn’t been maintaining very well until recently, have we? As for the requirements… We were always very independent. As for being a part of each other’s existence… Neveah is the source of my Aether. Or she was born in the source of my Aether Crossroads. So in a way, we definitely couldn’t have moved further apart…
Randidly’s eyes narrowed. And the recent change… the sudden and abrupt growth of our bond only occurred after I formed my Nether Core. When the energies started to be balanced between us…
Octavius didn’t notice Randidly’s whirling thoughts. “Anyway, experiments on Soulbonds are something… tightly controlled by the Nexus. All experimentation is done through a branch of the Engraving Guild. Of which the Swacc Family is a prominent member… but the quantity of Unitarium present at this facility can only mean that they’ve been skimming for their own ends. And Lathis N’Gick is definitely not someone who appreciates having his property stolen.
“For most, this is a terrorist attack. But behind the scenes, all the big entities are stirring; they aren’t going to miss this opportunity to carve off a pound of flesh from the Swacc Family, when they’ve so obviously broken the laws of the Nexus.”