Chapter 2289

Chapter 2289

Randidly narrowed his eyes as he worked inside the clay-edged structure of humanity. Already, this small amount of effort had doubled the agony of his headache. Apparently, the pounding glee of the elephants had echoed out loud enough that all the neighbors had come to join them. A real party was kicking off, with no end in sight. Yet as always, he couldn’t afford to be distracted.

He pushed away all information except for the anchors at the base of humanity. The key would be keeping all the weakening equal. And making sure only one of the weaknesses would break in a very controlled way, with the internal force completely spent with a single breakage.

If the whole apparatus shattered, the results wouldn’t be pretty.

Congratulations! Your Skill Infinite Incendiary Filaments of the Dove Moirae(P)(U) has grown to Level 1155!

Congratulations! Your Skill Infinite Incendiary Filaments of the Dove Moirae (P)(U) has grown to Level 1156!

The flows of energy burned in the gaze of Randidly Ghosthound as he measured and calculated. A primal intuition he had built from long meddling with esoteric and strange energies guided his hand. When finally he leaned back, the expression on his face was one of pure satisfaction; no longer did the clay body have mouths opening back and forth across its surface, it just shook with the barely contained power within.

Neveah let out a low whistle of appreciation as she rapidly appraised his efforts. “A single Stat anchor might break with the foundations adjusted like that. But the way you have the energy flowing— all that will accomplish is causing one of the person’s Stats to evolve.”

“Or degenerate,” Randidly admitted. He reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to relax away some of the tension. “As far as I can tell, both are possible. It will just be a different base Stat. Still, the energy and meaning crammed into this humanity mean it will have quite a bit higher base Stats the occur, and more potential, than it might have had. Definitely a success.”

For a long moment, all of them just stood and looked at the humming body. A few pieces of the wall he had shattered to enter into the room collapsed into a pile of rubble. The nearby ground steamed away the remaining heat from the brief conflict. When no one stepped forward, Randidly felt awkward enough to clear his throat. “...so now what? How do we finish off the process?”

“Ah! Oh, we just need to christen the body and activate the base ritual-” Padraic looked around. He coughed several times. “I’ll get to work carving it again. The base ritual a simple thing; we made a grand floor arrangement to add to the weight of the moment, but I always figured it was an unnecessary bit of opulence. I can-”

“How dare you,” The Origin Beast tilted his head back and glowered down his nose at Padraic. “A proper and true cradle, you suggest is opulence?!? Nay, a nascent race deserves more than the hasty scrawl of a sweaty little cretin to usher forth its meteoric rise! The genesis is the launching pad for success in all future endeavors. To that end, we should dedicate weeks, at the very least, to erecting a monolithic foundation-”

“Ideally, we would do just that. Create a worthy launching pad. But we don’t have time now,” Randidly interrupted. He reached out and put a hand on the Origin Beast’s shoulder. “Your point about creating a platform for future success is a good one, but have we not been fighting and struggling for so long to reach this point? Consider your own actions, the lessons you’ve learned, the foes you’ve managed to overcome. Don’t think quite so literally about what can contribute significantly to the process. Surely, all the effort you’ve expended should create a most impressive humanity. Let alone our minor assistance.”

Just as Randidly had expected, the Patron of the Deep’s eyes began to sparkle; truly, it didn’t require much to cause his self-importance to inflate to a size even larger than his body. Randidly cleared his throat, calling the Origin Beast’s attention back to the present. He spoke while trying to ignore the continued discomfort of his headache. “You’ll be in charge of handling the details, but I need a bit of assistance. Deganawidah still moves against Aether forces and I need to be there to help. But in this state—” Randidly gestured to his body, still trembling minutely. The elephants had ignored his pleas to tone it down. “-I will be of no help to anyone. So... please, can you find it in your heart to produce just a little bit more life energy?”

The Patron of the Deep hesitated. His pale cheeks hinted at his own private struggle, albeit one less debilitating than what Randidly had gone through. “Well, I’m not quite sure it makes sense to deplete my reserves, just prior to me taking the helm of this endeavor.”

“I can’t do this without you,” Randidly announced. Privately, he admitted to himself he didn’t know whether he could do it with the Origin Beast; the failure of the first attempt had left a wound on his heart he didn’t know how to address.

What cost would come to the second impossible attempt? Would he really be able to throw himself completely into a fool’s errand, without any hesitation? Especially because he originally envisioned the attempt as healing the Stillborn Phoenix.

Congratulations! Your Skill The Hypothetical Gaze that Consumes the Universe (T) has grown to Level 1037!

In the end, Randidly closed the eye of his own volition. The manifestation of that Hungry Eye began to fade, after a few seconds of stubbornly hanging in the air. Not because he had been sated. No, the sudden lack of energy flowing into his body only made it plainer that he had interrupted the process too early. Optimistically, Randidly estimated he had refilled his reserves to half. However, a glance at the sagging body of the Patron gave you all the information you needed regarding the sustainability of this method.

I’m not sure I should be impressed by the Patron of the Deep for giving up that much energy, or intimidated by my own reserves... Randidly looked at the Origin Beast with genuine empathy. The being’s habit of talking down to anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby made it difficult to remember, but he possessed a truly generous soul. And today, Randidly had asked a lot from him.

He cleared his throat, feeling bad even as he did it. He turned away, so he couldn’t see any despair or exhaustion that might cross the Patron of the Deep’s face. “Truly, thank you. I couldn’t have managed this without that boost. I’m- err, I feel completely revitalized. I’ll leave the matter of humanity’s founding cradle to you. Now Neveah, if I could just talk to you for a moment...”

Padraic supported the Patron of the Deep and the two tottered outside. Neveah glanced after them, her lips quirking. “I appreciate you exhausting him, but Randidly, you can’t seriously be thinking of proceeding in this state. Take a half hour to nap. Otherwise-”

“You know I don’t have time for that,” Randidly flashed a grin, apparently having recovered enough that the expression came naturally when he considered reckless choices. “Deganawidah might have already crushed the Aether resistance, and my second attempt will be so much harder without an area of mixed and violent Aether and Nether.”

Neveah sighed, but she knew Randidly well enough not to argue. “So? What’s the plan for this one?”

“I’m starting to have some second thoughts about this one, but... I plan to make a new Cohort. Inside the memory, all that useful mechanisms are still sitting there without anyone guarding them. The Stillborn Phoenix needs to find its true shape, and I think this is the perfect opportunity.” Randidly’s grin widened as something predatory woke in him. He had to force that enthusiasm back, as his mind ran through the processes to do so. “Quite a bit less fraught and chaotic than creating an impossible object, don’t you think? Ah, but, it will take a bit of time and leave me vulnerable to certain individuals-”

“Deganawidah, you mean.” Neveah frowned. “Do you think he will notice?”

“Definitely. The question is whether he will try to stop me.” Randidly couldn’t help but chuckle, although part of that was nerves. “Man, when he gathers all that Nether together... the depths of his power-”

Randidly froze. His pupils dilated. Because suddenly, he saw it.

“An epiphany?” Neveah sounded bored.

“The impossible task— its character didn’t feel right. Because I had planned to perfect the Stillborn Phoenix, but that is a selfish goal, separate from the pattern I started with the Philosopher’s Stone and unintended consequences.” Randidly began to pace back and forth, his eyes alight with excitement. “Besides, is healing the Stillborn Phoenix, no matter how impossible of an image it is, truly impossible? No, the activities were right, but just in the wrong order. And with the wrong focus. Yes, that’s perfect. Ha! I can’t believe I missed it.”

Neveah gave him a long look. “...at the very least, I hope this means the foolish idea of doing your ritual in front of Deganawidah has been tossed out.”

“Of course,” Randidly nodded very seriously. “I just need to fight Deganawidah first.”

Neveah threw her hands up into the air in disgust.