Considering he had already been smacked with the bumpy invention of Dungeons he should have at least clocked that a development like this would be possible Yet he also couldnÆt deny this was one more piece of a broader puzzle an Aetherlands suddenly filled with Fates
Tragically one which he had mostly unhelpful experience with considering his Fateset But every bit of information about the current situation built the broader context he needed
For now he forgave himself for the oversight no point in castigation especially when there was so much work to do He continued his examination following the jagged veins that Fates had provided for the Aether A way of development that worked quickly that gave them an edge they needed especially since Dungeons also provided the necessary time for these advantages to develop fully
RandidlyÆs mind raced along the connections trying to see how this would shape the confrontation how much the effect of Fates would grow before the two armies met in earnest in about four days The mental strain continued to grow but his emotional sea surged up in a typhoon of focused energy channeling its ferocity and wild violence into the Dread Homunculus The created being remained entirely still its focus narrowed to burning through the huge amount of information with its monstrous processing power
Congratulations Your Skill NyxÆs Successor Births Fate has grown to Level 1023
Congratulations Your Skill Motif of Unimagined Tolls has grown to Level 1030
You know Randidly began speaking aloud partially for his imageÆs benefit But also because he knew he had another reckoning to face soon The words helped stiffen his spine Back on Expira before the change before the System arrived and weaponized everything made survival a threat we humans had a lot of theories about the way the world worked And the different ways we believed it worked on an individual level One that always fascinated me was the idea of locus of control
The boughs of the World Tree creaked as it leaned more closely around Randidly The Egg of Depression paused in its keening to listen The Monster of Inevitable Finales continued to click away in its brutal calculations
People could be divided into two camps internal and external locus of control Internal locus meant you believed your actions were the determining factor of your life Your choices were the primary element in the alchemy of living Meanwhile an external locus of control meant you believed most of the result flowed from the circumstances around you No matter what you had done your economic situation the actions of the other people in your life details beyond your control or knowledge those were what determined the outcome
Randidly raised his gaze his emerald eyes flashing Life is contradictory Because you know I think the external locus of control individuals were right Life is an elaborate pachinko board pegs and balls falls and impacts and the physics of bouncing in a constrained space Your starting point and the board in front of you determine your future Because you are your history You cannot escape it
And yet Randidly lowered his gaze and looked at the woman standing in front of him her black hair matching his own He smiled In terms of outcomes people who believe in an internal locus of control are better both on career metrics and in terms of overall happiness Believing the situation is out of your control encourages bad behaviors even if thatÆs the correct answer So we have the control we need Looking at these patterns these other forces we are identifying the pegs What comes next is choosing from there everything will fall into place
Neveah crossed her arms unimpressed with his optimism All you have is a pile of contingency plans Randidly We are talking about your life Even if you somehow scrape by now is this really how you want to live Setting yourself up for larger and larger gambles later Treating life like a game
Chapter 2264
In the end Randidly and Neveah parted in tense silence His little rhetorical plea aside he couldnÆt yet reassure her effectively enough that this attempt would work out Nor apparently could he convey that he understood the consequences to the point she could accept his word
He reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose In the end he had avoided giving her a dangerous truth about himself he was still in the process of accepting And she hadnÆt pressed too terrified by the same truth to bring it up
Sitting on a rock South of Homewell he looked East toward the sun just now peaking above the horizon The rays were still cool tinged more blue than yellow by the cloud cover He couldnÆt blame her for the intense reaction either The more details he shared about his planÆ the more obvious the holes became He could feel the patterns of humanity’s creation and the spread of Fates but how would those details fit into the three attempts he had described By the end of it she had almost been trembling with rage
This is not a plan This is a veneer of optimism spread across a deathwish Neveah had hissed before stalking away Leaving Randidly to stare at the night sky for several hours as he did some mental calculations
You think I donÆt understand the risks IÆm taking Randidly sighed to the night as it slunk away from him several hours too late for his conversation with Neveah He didnÆt wish to say these words to Neveah not now while her fury still sizzled and spat but he also didnÆt want to bottle up the feelings either He wore a tired smile on his face one worn from long years of desperate fights against long odds But IÆm different now Those other Paths I canÆt see them anymore Neveah Now
In his chest the Dread Homunculus hummed part engine and part hesitant child The purified form of the internal locus of control Ready at any moment to choose We advance
Randidly simply nodded allowing true reorientation to finish settling His Nether Core whirred but the mechanical note of its operation had deepened as his third image finally settled into its proper place Every since the image had evolved this shift had been inevitable He hadnÆt thought too deeply about how such a change in his priorities would change his direction but there was no avoiding it
To advance and to survive were two very different methods of living He needed to carefully sound out how to live like this without needlessly endangering himself Because he no longer could just behave the way he once had
Not that he was the one totally at fault here Neveah had always possessed a fear of his recklessness She could not see the thin admittedly minute Path on which he walked around the very pressing risks Her fear warped her perspective Her instincts warned her away
For the first time Randidly turned inward and examined his Soulbond connection He wondered if like other relationships it was possible for two Soulbonded individuals to grow apart Hell from what he had learned about Commandant WickÆs reliance on Soulbonding and systematically suppressing his companion he understood that the balance he and Neveah maintained was the exception not the rule
What would happen if the Dread Homunculus began guiding him into a darkness so deep the connection between them only made Neveah shudder
RandidlyÆs jaw clenched There is a way forward My instincts I need to trust them And I need her to trust them as well
He already had a few pieces With a few more he could begin to make more concrete preparations
He pulled the Cloak of Utter Night across his shoulders sinking into the inky darkness of the primordial emptiness that Nyx had gifted to him The cloak possessed an indescribable font of support a hint of the status quo before creation The eternity certainty which Randidly borrowed now to steady his overtaxed brain
He couldnÆt explain his certainty to Neveah But what he could do was gather enough understanding to make his actions seem less like a gamble and more like an educated guess
Ripples revelation energy and strands of fate glittered in his eyes Because even after cutting incisively into the budding storm of significance above there were so many aspects he hadnÆt yet followed Half of the sudden shift in the Aetherlands came from Cerulean and Westrisser but the other half