Chapter 1607

“This is the place?” Wivanya asked in interest as she looked down at the mountain top below them. Her claws tightened on the stone perch beneath her. With the arrival of spring, the temperature gradually rose, even in the high elevation of the home territory of the Frost Dragons. Yet due to the heavy accumulation, thick drifts of snow remained in the surroundings.

Since Alana was busy dealing with some trouble with the final Zone to join Expira, Wivanya had some free time to return to her people. She had planned to come and make sure everyone was taking their holy mission seriously. Little did she know that she would be presented with a historic opportunity in the process.

In the darkness of the night before dawn, the Nether Gatekeeper next to her nodded in assent. He pointed down to one of the strange stone archways that had recently appeared across Expira. “Yes, that is the one. The Ghosthound dropped me on the other side and told me not to make any trouble.”

Wivanaya snorted in pleasure and stretched out a wing to lightly path the Nether Gatekeeper’s back. “Hum… It will require some research, but it is clear that this is a Holy Site. We must build a monastery at this location… both here and on the other side.”

Then Wivanya raised her head and unleashed an echoing roar that bounced off the surrounding peaks. At her call, almost fifty of her brood began to circle the area above her head and then glide down in neat formation. They landed on the summit and tucked their wings against their sides. Dutifully, all the frost dragons formed a long line, starting at the archway. Each was equipped with an interspatial bracelet on one of their claws that contained building materials and literature detailing the exploits of the glorious Ghosthound.

Wivanya nodded in satisfaction; when her people squeezed their wings to their sides, they were just small enough to squeeze through the archway. Time to spread the word to an entirely new world…

Then Wivanya looked up at the sky. Soon, it would be dawn. Time was short, so as many as possible needed to slip through to the other side and investigate a whole new world of people to which to spread the good news.

*****

Congratulations! Your Control has evolved into… recalculating…

Warning-

Due to the specificity of impression and potency of the chosen target, a mutation has occurred! Your Fateset Paradox of the Alchemist has reacted strongly to your desire! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle has reacted strongly to your desire! Recalculating… Rarity being adjusted…

In your determination lies the potential to become an Alchemist that can even synthesize prophecy! The vestments of an Oracle are utilized with scientific precision! Rarity being adjusted...

Your Stat Control has evolved into Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae (P)! For being the ninth individual to craft a Pinnacle Stat, +200 to Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae! For being the first individual to reach the Pinnacle in the area of Control, your contribution to the System will be-

Error, no available record detected. Please see your Village Spirit for Details.

Warning! Unable to perceive the exact effects of the new Skill!

Attempting to recalculate… Attempt failed.

Randidly’s eyes flashed with barely disguised ill-will as the System tried to record his ‘contribution’, but he was glad to see that there was an error. It seemed Nathaz’s assurances that he would prevent a similar attention-grabbing incident from occurring around his Aether construction again was trustworthy. But in the next moment, Randidly’s vision was smashed to darkness by a strange, internal rumble.

Was I…? His dazed mind scrambled to figure out what happened. No, it’s not… an attack. It’s just… this evolved Stat-

Without any ability to recover himself, Randidly collapsed. Each of his nerves was buzzing as though they understood the change that was coming and they were dashing to the grocery store before everything closed down. He bit his lip so hard that he tasted blood. An earthquake ran through Randidly’s Soulspace in the very next moment. The area devoted to the Aether structure of his Class and Stats was beginning to shake as something arrived. Very quickly, those reverberations spread outward through the inner area filled with his Skills and images.

Randidly gritted his teeth as his mind struggled to float atop the dangerous waves of change that rushed back and forth within his person. Without Randidly consciously moving it, he could feel the rotation of energy around his Nether Core increasing in velocity as potential energy crackled within him. A wave of radiation blasted outward from Randidly’s Soulspace, originating from the Stat that had once been Control.

Gasping, Randidly rolled on his side as his muscles began to spasm. His eyes cracked open as he released a hiss of pain, and then his eyes widened as he realized that the radiation from his Soulspace wasn’t just in his imagination; when he looked at himself, he could see that his skin had turned luminescent and was lit by a pure white light. That inner change produced enough powerful reverberations that it manifested in the physical realm.

“Shit…” Randidly muttered as he tried to force himself off the ground. He vaguely had the impulse to find cover. Those buzzing nerves were suddenly lit on fire as the radiation intensified, causing his face to contort with agony. But even though his senses were fuzzed by the overwhelming transformation, Randidly could see that whatever power he was releasing was much more potent than he wanted to be displayed. The surrounding space was beginning to roil. If things continued like this and attracted attention-

But just as he was worrying, the accelerating energy of his Nether Core exploded outward. It swirled through their intimate connection and manifested in the surrounding space as a black mist that escaped through his pours. Soon, Randidly was at the center of a pitch-black maelstrom that screened the whole of the broken Nether Pinion.

If someone was truly watching, perhaps they could believe that some reaction was occurring in the Nether Pinion itself.

Which was certainly eye-catching, but Randidly could also feel that the dense Nether would block his own strange radiation from escaping.

Releasing a pained sigh, Randidly allowed himself to collapse again against the ground and press his eyes shut. The reaction in his body continued to grow so that the influence of the new stat thoroughly penetrated through all of his body and Skills. Then, when it seemed like that light had reached its peak, it began to release pulsing waves targeted at Randidly’s mind.

Those waves lapped gradually deeper through Randidly’s thoughts and perceptions, shifting and searing them. Suddenly Randidly was shivering as his senses began to feed him a confusing mix of information. Several times he once again briefly lost consciousness, only returning to himself after the particularly massive wave of energy had passed and burned away his very perception of it.

Randidly pressed his lips together as he lay in the middle of the swirling maelstrom of black mist Nether. This had better be fucking worth it…

The process of ‘enrichment’ lasted for almost ten minutes. Each second was agony. As time was fractured and broken into minuscule chunks by the pain of the transformation, Randidly felt like the actual duration was much longer than his Absolute Timing indicated. He seemed stuck, eternally tormented as this strange, mutated Stat grew to the full of its power.

And then, after one last wave flowed through the entirety of his being, the heat in his nerves began to ease. As the muscles of his torso loosened, Randidly released a stale breath.

The pain began to recede, leaving the buzzing of raw nerve endings along his arms and legs. Groaning, Randidly rolled a bit to a sitting position. His limbs tingled. He flexed his hands and gradually checked in on the state of his body. His bones and muscles ached slightly, but it just a lingering sensation after all of the overstimulation.

And as that change faded away and he could actually feel the fineness of his mental acuity…

Randidly’s eyes were luminous as he slowly stood and stretched. Then he paused and looked upward at the sky. The whole of the universe seemed to spin predictably before his gaze. The steady process of the birth and death of stars as well as the long orbitals of celestial bodies spun before his vision. Then he refocused on closer phenomena.

He didn’t blink at all as he carefully studied the powerful, wheeling patterns amongst the Nether particles. As he continued to focus, the grinding and thunderous discharge from the struggle faded away and left behind only the ethereal beauty of the Nether King’s work. Motes of light and meaning wove together. As Randidly carefully followed them, he began to see something much bigger than just the current fight.

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 223!

…

Influence +3!

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 241!

Gradually, Randidly allowed his eyes to slide shut. That’s probably enough for now. I’m still a little short of being able to create a pattern like that… But I’m starting to understand the basic principles…

The improvement to his abilities with his new Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae was difficult to quantify. But above all, the sensation was pleasurable as the last after effects disappeared. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not, but Randidly felt like he could reach out and directly dominate his surroundings. Almost unwillingly, he kept himself from testing that theory, in case he was still under observation.

Perhaps even stranger than that was the impression that the entirety of the environment was oddly… predictable. As though Randidly’s new Control came pre-loaded with insight to the vital mechanisms on which the natural world functioned.

But Randidly couldn’t resist producing Acri once more. As he held the spear in a combat stance, the squiggly lines of Ripple of Amenonuhoko swam playfully outward from the blade. Narrowing his eyes, Randidly released a breath. Then he cut sharply upward, following one of those lines. With the edge of Dreadful Alacrity, his speed was brutal.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 335!

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 336!

About a hundred meters away, an enormous pillar of stone ruptured the ground as it exploded upward. Randidly clicked his tongue in appreciation as he lowered Acri. The effect, ease of activation, and range have definitely increased with using this spear Skill… but more than that, it’s the Skill Levels that really show how immense the change to Control was.

More capability makes Skill Levels easier. All of my experimentation earlier only yielded a single Skill Level, but with this new Stat, a single strike earned me two…

I’ll still need to do some digging to make sure this new Stat doesn’t contain any sort of venom from the Nexus, but right now my Nether is still flowing cleanly through me… What sort of improvement did I stumble across, I wonder… combining an Alchemist with an Oracle, huh…?

Randidly lowered his spear unwillingly. After glancing around, he opened up his Path menu once more; he still had so much PP to spend. He scanned through the Paths and selected Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm. Of the remaining Paths, Randidly believed it would provide the broadest benefit. But as he poured PP into it and earned 1 Willpower per 50 spent, a sardonic smile crossed his face.

With how much my Stats are growing by spending all this PP, it remains to be seen if I’ll be able to control my own body afterward…

Congratulations! You have completed the Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm Path! An unavoidable truth of your existence is that your unflinching resolve is an enormous part of your strength. The Path to your current heights could not be traversed by the faint of heart. Yet as you look up, the Pinnacle looms even further above, taunting you with the intervening distance.

Yet there is no doubt in your heart, is there? You will continue forward. The Path continues ever onward.

Congratulations! Willpower +100. Your Skill Conviction of the Smiling Horror (L) has evolved into Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T)! Skill Level will be maintained. The increase in image efficiency is slightly increased per Skill Level. Damage improvement is slightly increased per Skill Level.