The result was a much more palatable stream of Aether heading upward Randidly raised his head and grinned Compared to the total volume of energy flowing here I am only affecting about one fifth of it Perhaps as Yggdrasil gets stronger IÆd be able to cleanse all of it But for now a small positive side effect of my training which is quite rare
Honestly I usually destroy or poison the surroundings I guess this just goes to show that the Nexus operates on entirely another tier
In fact Randidly had an ulterior motive for allowing the purification He had felt a subtle shift in Yggdrasil as it took on this new task The exertion was different enough from what Yggdrasil usually did that he sensed that the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis could move toward a more purifying effect in the future Randidly allowed the gradual shift for now while he considered the long term consequences of such a change
Congratulations Your Skill the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis has grown to Level 269
Meanwhile RandidlyÆs body was steadily being covered with dark grey scales The Grim Chimera assumed almost complete control of RandidlyÆs body while the two other images focused on the ambient energy Rather than trying to access or utilize the Aether the Grim Chimera simply stood by and allowed the rapid flows of energy to temper its body
In this case that tempering involved his exterior muscles and skin gradually toughening beneath the onslaught of energy It was an intermediary step in pushing the Grim Chimera to the next level This process was helping but Randidly sensed that he was still missing something to complete the transformation
Finally the Stillborn Phoenix continued to devour the emotion that Yggdrasil purified for it Luckily its hunger wasnÆt actually infinite At the volume of one fifth of the ambient energy in the massive hollow spine of the Nexus the Stillborn Phoenix couldnÆt handle anymore So the egg of darkness just sat there and happily devoured more and more ambient emotion at a constant if massive rate The change for this image too still seemed a bit away but it helped familiarize Randidly with the details of the Stillborn Phoenix
It was a strange broken phenomenon that dreamed of being a living phoenix
Meanwhile a small part of Randidly was intently watching for changes in his Nether Nebula As Octavius had said the deeper he had gone down here the more the System restriction on Nether had loosened At his current depth there was about double the amount of Nether present than there had been on Earth Which certainly allowed him to loosen the tight spiral he maintained within his own Nether Nebula and relax a bit
But Randidly found that if he let his Nether stray too far from him it was sucked down to the waiting hell below Which made him regard the abyss quite solemnly He licked his lips Someday someday IÆll have to see how deeply I can safely go If I can strengthen my mental defenses IÆd like to see the way Nether is orchestrated at the core of the Nexus
For the moment it mostly functioned as an extra bit of strain to help him train his control over Nether which was certainly worth the trip
Congratulations Your Skill Nether Sensation has grown to Level 307
So Randidly lost himself in the familiar rhythms of training Yggdrasil steadily stretched outside of its comfort zone The Grim Chimera steadily resisted the churn of energy and evolved into a scaly chrysalis form The Stillborn Phoenix continued to engorge itself on the lingering emotions from the images that were probably being smelted below His Nether Nebula continued its steady steady rotation
But then something changed The rate at which the Stillborn Phoenix was absorbing emotions began to drop Very quickly it was only able to stomach a trickle of emotions Yggdrasil was confused but it just shunted the extra emotions up with the refined energy anyway honestly the World Tree didnÆt really care what happened to the energy once it purified it Yggdrasil was just savoring the experience at the moment
Randidly began to frown as he felt for changes within his image Of course the dense folding of light around his eye did little to reveal the state of the image on its surface But after almost a minute of investigation it really seemed like nothing was wrong with the image it was just literally full Very soon that trickling of emotions it continued to absorb stopped altogether
Then a shudder ran through the Stillborn Phoenix and RandidlyÆs attention instantly heightened to its limits He had taken the emotions rather lightly because of the nature of the Stillborn Phoenix but if there was actually some permanent damage
There was a sudden massive blast of emotion out of the Stillborn Phoenix If the emotions that had gone into the Egg of Depression had been at a three in terms of vibrancy and violence their time within the egg had upped their impact to something closer to a seven They erupted upward in a wave joining the purified energy and instantly turning it even more chaotic and violent than it had been originally It was a veritable sea of mania and violent emotions
RandidlyÆs eyebrow twitched All of the purification that he had done was immediately obliterated by the sinister and hungry emotions that raced upward with all the bloodthirsty glee of a pack of grey wolves that had caught the scent of prey His impression that he was engaging in some sort of community service by working with this Aether immediately evaporated It was once more confirmed that he was a dangerous strain on the environment no matter where he was Suddenly Randidly was quite glad that he could only handle one fifth of the ambient energy flowing upward
From what little that Randidly could sense from the emotions that the Stillborn Phoenix regurgitated if a weak willed person thoughtlessly absorbed some of this energy they would be quickly overwhelmed by their darker impulses The air was suddenly thick with hatred envy rage and bitterness Randidly could practically see those emotions smashing against the walls of the Web above him bounding back and forth and growing stronger on adversity
After about five minutes the torrent of negative emotion stopped The Stillborn Phoenix radiated puzzlement as it tried to understand what had just happened as though it hadnÆt been the one to unleash that emotional calamity toward the Nexus Randidly couldnÆt help but be amused by its casual destructiveness
Well maybe IÆm overreacting Randidly thought taking another glance upward through the mass of swaying cables above his head Perhaps those emotions arenÆt as dangerous as I thought Maybe they just seemed especially violent because of how suddenly they came out of the Stillborn Phoenix
While Randidly was thinking the Stillborn Phoenix began sucking in emotions once more Around ten minutes later that absorptions slowed and then it spewed emotions that were definitely more volatile than they had been previously The process repeated Gradually Randidly just accepted this as a function of the image
And it was around the fourth such cycle that he realized it was almost as though his dead image was breathing
Against This means that this candidate is also rejected Applicant you are dismissed The tinier representative from the NLC adjusted her glasses and glanced back and forth down the people on the table Her expression held barely controlled frustration The Xyrt Brigade Special Investigator continued to seem bored despite the seriousness of their plight Lady Iellaya kept her face impassive as best she could while knowing that she wasnÆt doing a good job Commandant Wick seemed troubled but didnÆt say anything
Part of the problem was the decisive difference in the candidates presented They were either obvious cronies of the NLC or Military High Command Randidly Ghosthound had been the compromised candidate but Commandant Wick hadnÆt been moved Likely his mind was on the fact that his great granddaughter would be placed into the elite unit to be nurtured and would therefore be instructed by who they chose today
Randidly Ghosthound didnÆt exactly inspire confidence He simply looked too much like his actual age