At that point Randidly realized it was more than mental energy that the rift had taken His entire body with the exception of Sulfur was unpleasantly cool like a corpse preserved in a refrigerator rather than a living being His movements were clumsy even as his vision stabilized and his thoughts sharpened And considering he seemed to have been unconscious for at least fifteen minutes this was after he had already recovered a bit
Yea Uncommon Metabolism just isnÆt going to cut it at this rate Randidly narrowed his eyes and slapped his hands against his upper arms trying to invigorate himself He swayed as he stood and held up the pyramid Fatepiece and looked at the sapphire layer So thatÆs the middle portion of the Hierarchy of Burden Entropy
Chapter 1896
Randidly took the next week to focus on pushing the Hierarchy of Burden to Level 43 but each session ended with him passed out and near useless for a half hour after the effort The real problem was that the pale light radiationÆs heat covered a lot of the early signs that he was succumbing to the Entropy generated by an image reaching the Pinnacle The burning heat covered the loss of sensation so the only warning was the rapid appearance of a headache before darkness took him unawares
The only option Randidly could think of to prevent this was to train up some of the Vulpis Squad to take a portion of the second layer but as he considered this option he could only watch the twitching soldiers on the beach with an aggrieved expression It would take quite a while before they were ready for that
For now he was on his own
So Randidly could only sigh shake his head scowl and move on to other training methods However the problem of his body losing sensation reaffirmed his desire to improve his Endurance and Uncommon Metabolism Stats So he focused on an area he believed would get him some quick Skill Levels improving some of the lagging Skills in his three images First he would refine the images broadly then he would work on the individual moves until they were honed to a razorÆs edge
Randidly left his churning storm on that island and floated to the area on the dark side of the moon where he had left the Sea of Dreams
Compared to the Path of Blood that Randidly had walked the most recent creation of the mountain master glittered with color and light It was an extended cut of the northern lights woven into a lake a shifting gleaming wondrously immersive experience that drowned you with hue and vibrancy Looking at the fickle flashes of gold ruby and turquoise Randidly thought that the beauty of the path would be even more overwhelming when you were submerged within it
However he hesitated at the edge glancing around at the colors The bobbed and combined and split purple becoming red blue meeting yellow and becoming orange green and splitting to purple and eye catching canary An organic fickle spinning arrangement that could drive someone mad if they watched for long enough
Randidly had more practical concerns he scratched his chin Do I just wade into it
The colors didnÆt answer him They were too busy splitting and combining in an orgy of energy and light Shrugging Randidly threw away his hesitations and hopped forward into the Sea of Dreams
Alana Donal folded her arms across her chest as she looked at the two pig faced men that sat in the small booth along the converted highway A single thrust of her spear could demolish the plywood structure and shatter the road One of the men had ratty black hair and the other had wispy blonde hair but otherwise they looked almost like twins Down to the cruel twist at the corners of their mouth and their beady eyes
Eyes that kept flicking back to the Lizakh behind her Seeing their attention she knew why they were causing trouble for their group
In the small wooden booth the two ugly pig men dropped their jaws She raised her arms grabbing those thickening beams of solar power and shaped them into a massive spear of heat and light Her hands seized the shaft of that massive weapon and she drove it forward with a baleful will The area outside of the paved road was a hilly forest but all the terrain was as transient as sand as Alana took that massive sunlight spear edged with all the force of her image and dug a route forward
The two unfortunate Academy students yelped and scrambled sideways seeming to think they were under attack by some passing monster They generated two small Mana Shields that Alana popped in passing Their blazers now ruffled and singed they tumbled sideways out of harm’s way
She took great care in focusing and affixing her image to the ground too stretching forward for almost three miles Glowing Revelation gave bonuses to all physical Stats and also left the recipients feeling invigorated The road funded by the World Council provided relevant boosts but it was a mass produced sprawling thing And now suddenly this stretch of it would have to compete with a new pathway carved from AlanaÆs image and spite
Alana released a huffing breath and allowed her image to fade The sunlight waned returning to normal levels She pursed her lips as she looked out at the passage she had created there were a few problems with it Mostly it continued to sizzle and burn unnaturally as though embers had been buried into the ground Perhaps even more obnoxious was the fact that these burns appeared to take on three repeated images a thick tree a hazy circle and a sitting humanoid with two tails
My Soulskill at work Alana shook her head slightly Then she turned again ignoring the two small men in their fragile structure LetÆs go
She had furiously power walked off a small portion of her ire by the time Hank caught back up with her LeavinÆ jus like that ReckonÆd we could at least stay anÆ knock a few heads together send a message that this sorta shit wonÆt fly
Alana shook her head ThereÆs no point This is the problem this is why we need to have a summit and talk about the autonomy of small municipalities For every sweaty dictator IÆve punished while wandering five more have sprung up clamoring about their right to self govern And what right do I have to interfere but my spear being stronger than theirs If we want positive change we need a unified body of law that prevents them from discriminating based on humanity
Hank clicked his tongue Gonna be hard to even get to the PurityÆ question Zone 7 and 11 will never go for one system of law they donÆt want outside interference in their lands AnÆ with how fractal the independent cities are
The two stopped speaking as the Lizakh warriors fell into place around them with their weapons raised A dozen armed individuals sidled out of the remnant charred treeline instantly slowing as their ill will turned the bonuses of Glowing Revelations against them They wore the heavy powersuit style armor that was popular now in Zone 1 The armor simply required the user to supply Mana to create a series of energy plates that did an excellent job at defending the user They also carried heavy Mana rifles poorly maintained and grimy from exposure to the elements
All mass produced all very cheap and difficult to trace AlanaÆs eyes narrowed as she looked at the group that so obviously had been dressed to resemble bandits They were frog people from one of the Danger Zones near Donnyton Seeing some of them here was quite a surprise Considering their sudden appearance along this road Alana regretted not taking the time to head to the nearby municipal headquarters and kick over the anthill I smell a fucking rat
Hand over all your valuables Or die The largest of the armored frog people croaked
Hank stepped forward and patted AlanaÆs shoulder If ya move I know yur gonna burn down the whole area So why not let me handle this
Chapter 1897
Randidly felt his images straining underneath the pressure from the vivid colors Their influence seeped through his skin and fixated on his inner world The hues jostled around him like a rowdy crowd at a live music venue metaphysically elbowing him in the small of the back and leaning against him All three of his images flared doing their best to push back the shining opals and oranges from crowding into RandidlyÆs interior