Chapter 1827

Chapter 1827

The eight shades congregated in the corner of the platform, talking excitedly with each other. Their positive emotions were quite conspicuous on the battlefield surrounded by mist. Because this area had none of the environmental obstructions of the other platforms, their voices echoed across the whole arena.

“Ah, perhaps finally my disciple will be defeated here? Still, his potential is immense to reach the ninth guardian.”

“Haaah, you never seem to learn. How can this challenger be your disciple? Any other guardian could flatten you to a detestable pancake... Why must this continue? Even your words can torture me...”

“Stop bickering and pay attention to this confrontation. Perhaps we will be able to intuit some new secrets of the Grand Pattern by watching their movements..”

“Ugh, you training fanatics are the worst. Let’s just have some fun since we can wander around a bit. When was the last time we could gather like this? Who wants to play some tarot with me?”

“We have no tarot deck.”

“We can ask the challenger-”

“Isn’t my disciple busy?!? Don’t you dare distract him from his fight. Or rather, our fight for proper recognition-”

“Hmph, what are you going to stop us? Go back down to the base of the staircase, weakling. Before I crush you.”

“How DARE-”

Randidly made the executive decision to ignore any further bickering from his shadow entourage. He sealed his ears and simply focused on the energy around him. Besides, he had more troublesome issues to handle.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Congratulations! Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko (T) has grown to Level 601!

Gritting his teeth, Randidly attempted to disperse his momentum as he skidded back away from the point of impact. He feet dragged across the ground and sent pebbles skidding. Natural energy swirled around him in a massive maelstrom, crackling with electromagnetic discharge and mysterious light. At this point, on the ninth platform of the Fifth Step, he could not afford to hold anything back.

With a pinch of his Focus, Nether guided those chaotic energy flows back around to his body to empower himself. He exploded forward, utilizing a trick he had learned from one of the other guardians to create a slipstream around his body. A drill of air and Nether curled around Acri’s point as he thrust the weapon toward the shade in front of him.

The shade was short and skeletally skinny, with frizzy hair that careened in every direction from his head and hung down to cover his face. But when he raised his hands, he held four dangerous needles of force between his fingers.

Congratulations! Your Skill Philosophy within the Boundless Deluge (M) has grown to Level 572!

He pushed his Grim Intuition to the limit, feeling the small imperfections in the air. More energy than he could comprehend filled the surrounding area, congregating around the two fighters, but also swirling in the uninhabited areas as well. The more he looked and traced the connections outward, the more he felt mental strain building up, but he refused to look away.

The more a complicated work of art glittered around him.

For a few moments, time seemed to stand still. Everything became energy. The details of the surroundings vanished, their shape fading. Instead, Randidly could read their energy. He could even see the swirling efforts of the thin shade in front of him to disappear.

Everything was laid bare. And once he witnessed the whole of the environment, something clicked into place in his mind.

Randidly’s heartbeat quickened. This is why images are suppressed here. Not because the power of the Grand Pattern suffers no competition, but the ultimate goal of this obnoxious place is understanding. Of witnessing this vast interaction. Images ultimately are a cheat; you accomplish a goal by relying on a mental manifestation of energy that doesn’t need to be restricted by inputs and outputs. Shape and emotion are enough to make up the difference. Witnessing this majesty requires too much work, too much suffering, compared to the alternative. But once you’ve seen it-

An instinctual understanding of energy flows began to bud in Randidly’s subconscious. It didn’t manifest a Skill, but somehow he could feel the barest possibility of how the Nether King could wield such power.

Of course, there was a cost. The mental strain became a throbbing, physical headache that quickly began to congregate around Randidly’s left eye. The warping of the Stillborn Phoenix quickly grew stronger, the darkness spreading to cover a larger portion of his face.

As the pain became agonizing, the sensation of being frozen finally shattered. The shade whipped backward, its body steadily being obscured by the flows of energy it manipulated. For a second, Randidly stalled, then he once more found his momentum. His arms tore forward, bearing whirlwinds of vicious force.

Now that I’ve seen your pattern, you can’t just screen my gaze any longer, Randidly pounced downward.

His palm strikes impacted the obscuring energy flows and ripped through them, revealing the guardian wearing a look of shock on his face. But of course, he was still a powerful warrior. He righted his stance and tossed two force needles at Randidly.

The headache worsened as the agony seemed to crystalize into a dagger wiggling into the back of his left eye, but Randidly could even see the patterns the shade used to create the force spikes. It would take a while to get his Skill Level to the requisite power, but he could mimic the technique.

The force in the surroundings seethed and pulsed in constant motion. Randidly was so close. If he could have more time to study-

However, he ignored that possibility for now. Because he might not know the finer points, but he had plenty of experience manifesting his own patterns and exerting his will. Randidly reached into the surrounding space and forced the two force needles apart, so they shot on either side of him. Then he crossed the last bit of distance and impacted the core of focus that the shade used to control the surrounding pattern.

Randidly’s attack slammed the guardian into the ground. The other watching shades fell silent. In the same instant, a notification popped up and pain around his eye began to ease.

Congratulations! Your Skill Tide of the Void (L) is reacting!

Recalculating...

Congratulations! Your Skill Tide of the Void (L) has evolved into Breath of the Cosmos (T)! Skill Level will be maintained.