Chapter 2347

Chapter 2347

Randidly began pouring PP to finish his chosen Path. When he added his 50th PP, he stalled out and blinked at the notification he had been given: +1 Free Stats and +1 to Health, Mana, and Stamina.

All told, 1000 of the Attributes and 1000 Free Stats. Randidly couldn’t help but chuckle as he considered the soon-to-be-completed Path.. Just for that, this is a lucrative Path, isn’t it? Now, what will the final reward be?

He sped through the rest of the 50k PP very quickly without distributing his free Stats; after all the rewards were tabulated, he could decide how to spend these little free bonuses. Soon, the Path completion notification popped up in front of him.

Congratulations! Your eyes turn from the sky and the distant possibility of the Pinnacle to concern yourself with the pragmatic realities within your reach. And immediately, you begin to work. Each motion carves signs and truths into existence. From your hands, ash and ruin. From your breath, sacrilege and perversion. From your fell alchemies, revolution. Worse even than the Dove Perdition you drag to envelop the whole of the Nexus, in your wake lingers a passage that others may follow to similarly effect change against this great collective. Even if your life would cease now, you have created a flaw in the monolith that your predecessors built.

It is a feat without equal, in the history of the Nexus.

Congratulations! You have completed the From the Nexus, Dove Perdition Path! Your Ghosthound’s Deviation Rarity has spread from your body into others! Other individuals within the Nexus have an extremely minute chance of earning the GD Rarity when they evolve powerful Skills with unique twists. Should those individuals embody the spirit of exploration and advancement with which you created the Rarity, they can capture a portion of your power. Should their aims instead run counter to your beliefs, the efficacy of those Skills will be greatly reduced.

Congratulations! You have also generated the Deviant (D) bonus designation for Skills! This bonus designation is slightly more likely to occur over the next ten years. Designation will function similarly to the Unique (U) designation, whereupon it will be added in addition to another Rarity to create the final designation. Those with the Deviant designation will experience various erratic effects in the usage of their Skill. As the proficiency increases, their is an infinitesimally small chance that the Deviant Designation will evolve into a new general Rarity, following the example of Ghosthound’s Deviation.

Congratulations! For completing the From the Nexus, Dove Perdition Path, +200 to Grey Monarch’s Authority and Discretion of the Apostate Moirae. Congratulations! You have gained the Skill What the Ghosthound Sows, He Will Soon Reap (GD).

What the Ghosthound Sows, He Will Soon Reap (GD)(U): A unique Skill of Randidly Ghosthound, gained when he caused a significant change to the Rarity System of the Nexus. Impossible to duplicate. As others take advantage of this created flaw, Skill Level will increase. Slightly boosts the efficacy of the user’s Skills and the chance others can also become Deviant. Gives the user slight resistance against deviant Skills. Gives an even smaller immunity to regular Skills. User has a small chance of immediately understanding any Deviant Skill used against him. Effects increase with Skill Level.

Randidly breathed slowly in and then out as he considered the reward given to him by the Path. An extra four hundred Stats in those Stats that were already the highest. A thunderous shift in the way Rarities would proceed, that made his mind race with possibilities. But perhaps most importantly, the fact that the Rarity System could change gave him the inkling of a few other aspects of the System he could target...

That’s for later. For now... this benefit is plenty. Randidly chuckled to himself. Very quickly, his bubble of joy faded— an interesting development, and power enough to improve him, but he didn’t have much time to waste. He quickly looked again at his Path Screen: additional PP flowing in had finally pushed him up to a little under 24k.

He waffled as he considered the possibilities. He needed to eliminate a few more possible Paths, to keep accumulating advantages. Because he was just short of the requirement for Font of the Endless Milles, Randidly reluctantly decided to set that option to the side. He had already earned the reward for a few Milles before. And while the Stat evolution benefited him, he wasn’t too interested in further developments like that.

Well, perhaps endless Milles come with a more concrete benefit, but I’m willing to risk it to earn other immediate boosts. Chewing on his lip, Randidly considered the depleted list of Paths to choose from.

Alchemist of Past and Present 0/10000, The Homunculus Advances: The First Self-Vivisection 0/????, Song of the Void 0/????, Reality from Echoes, Moirae and Alchemist Ascendant 0/15000, Heritage of the Nether People 0/???, Balance Between Nether 0/10000

When the first pain left, Randidly had time to release a long breath. If it stayed like this, he would definitely be able to persist through several waves of pain. The Homunculi’s excitement rose even further. He could almost imagine the image twisting its neck at an impossible angle to peer down into its opened chest.

As he sucked in another breath, the second wave of pain arrived. Light and incendiary at first, quickly deepening to a sharp chill that penetrated to his bones. More than anything else, it reminded Randidly of a combination of the light radiation and entropy layers of the Hierarchy of Burden.

Randidly shifted uncomfortably, acknowledging this would likely not be as easy as he had first expected.

The third wave of pain finally brought a mental component. A stomping, strained headache like the many Randidly had acquired juggling all his abilities were the central component, while his flesh seemed to ignite and tear itself away from his bones. Perhaps even more ominously, this wave of pain lasted much longer than the previous ones, stretching to almost five minutes.

A whole new worry clouded his expression with a frown, but when he actually checked, he released a soft sigh. Looks like part of the passage of time is just mental. The first two waves were thirty seconds, but that third only lasted a minute, despite the sensation. Tsk, but that means forcing my way through the Path could take a while.

The fourth wave of pain arrived. Yet it was a peculiar pain. Rather than any harm to his flesh, Randidly felt the almost unfamiliar sensation of fear. An overwhelming fear poured into every inch of his body, causing him to tremble and shake. He felt like the blood was being drained out of his entire body, devoured by a hungry entity capable of devouring him. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed and endured it.

The fifth wave was loneliness that old foe of Randidly’s.

For what seemed to be an hour, he swam through oblivion, with no hope of release.

It was almost a relief when the sixth wave arrived and it was once more pain. Horrible, thorn-covered spikes plunged again and again through Randidly’s body, but he could at least resist this more effectively than the mental attacks.

During the lull between the sixth and seventh waves, there was a knock at the door. Randidly raised his head and squinted. “Who is it?”

“Me,” Neveah replied. “It’s almost time to start bringing people into the Alpha Cosmos. Considering the number of individuals coming and the disintegration of the memory structure... if we don’t start now, we might run into trouble. Are you ready?”

Randidly’s stomach bubbled. He bit his lip, then bounded to his feet and rushed over to a trashcan in the corner. He opened his mouth and vomited as the worst sensation of nausea he had ever experienced seized him. In the wake of the upheaval, it felt like acid had been sprinkled across his stomach. After a few seconds of wavering, Randidly dry heaved, expelling little more than stomach acid.

The Dread Homunculus made a noise of interest and made a note.

“I’m gonna need a minute,” Randidly panted.