Later that night as Randidly was touring around the suddenly very crowded rooftops of Kharon, he felt the familiar sensation of the Eidolon Crucible overtaking him. It tickled at the edges of his consciousness, tugging him toward sleep. Chuckling, Randidly found an out of the way corner on a rooftop next to a small garden filled with ripening parsnips and made himself comfortable.

Randidly made an aggrieved expression as he shifted a bag of fertilizer and leaned against it. It would be kinda awkward if someone found me passed out up here… but if I go into the Eidolon Crucible, most of Kharon should be there too. The chance of that happening should be relatively low.

With a little bit of trepidation, Randidly allowed the familiar falling sensation to carry him away from the smoky rooftop on which he actually stood and soon found himself… standing on a rooftop of Kharon in the dream realm conjured by the Skill. A quick scan of the surrounding area determined that there was no fertilizer necessary in the collective subconscious of Kharon. Immediately after he acquainted himself with the surrounding area, he felt the burning determination of the people of Kharon surge toward him like a vast tide.

In this instance, their aggression took the form of the moss spirits. Which both made Randidly happy and concerned about his plans for tomorrow. The moss spirits erupted out of nearby alleys and swarmed together into a towering colossus of emerald light that looked down toward him. The huge colossus swung its large hand almost casually, aiming to crush Randidly to nothing.

The Grim Chimera roared in deadly defiance as it rushed out of Randidly’s silhouette and punctured into the torso of the green giant. Randidly considered the foe before him critically as it was systematically mauled down to size by the twisted limbs of the Grim Chimera. The fact that the moss spirits were chosen as their image representative shows that they identify with the spirits… but they are missing the point. Now that the moss spirits proliferated to this extent, their development with Kharon can really begin…

We should have enough power at this point for the expansion plans that Wendy outlined.

Randidly’s lip twisted as more and more green light gathered to heal the wounds that the Grim Chimera had inflicted into the giant spirit of Kharon. Yet as fast as the images of Kharon could heal themselves, the Grim Chimera was just as efficiently deadly.

Even without putting too much effort into the conflict, Randidly was very confident in being able to overcome the images of the people of Kharon. Having condensed both Nether and Aether energy into their next forms, even if just in small quantities, had added depth to Randidly’s images that the people of Earth couldn’t yet rival.

Even people from Kharon who had been absorbing Randidly’s lessons about images for over a year. Randidly wasn’t sure whether to be pleased with his own growth or annoyed by his lack of teaching acumen.

Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 202!

“These are almost kinda nice when I can’t practice my images too violently on Earth without breaking the image seal,” Randidly smiled to himself as he sat down cross-legged to meditate.

Honestly, Randidly could have ended the Crucible very quickly if he wanted. Instead, he was content allowing the image of the Grim Chimera to tire itself out as it continually ripped down the green giant. He did this both because it was good training for himself and the image, but also because a longer battle gave the people participating in the Crucible a good chance to improve. By experiencing first hand the brutality of Randidly’s image, they could grow.

Randidly folded his arms across his chest as the titan of green light ruptured from a particularly vicious blow from the Grim Chimera. Moss spirits hemorrhaged from the wound, flooding the nearby streets and crashing down toward where Randidly was sitting and watching the action. With a loud snort, a blast of mental power knocked away some of the more ambitious images that sought to go after him directly.

Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 203!

Grinning, the Grim Chimera stalked forward across the edge of the rooftop and chased the remnants of Kharon’s images to finish this Crucible. The other fact that Randidly noticed as he took his time to eviscerate the images arrayed against him was the fact that very few of the new arrivals had been pulled along; that showed that they didn’t feel like a citizen of Kharon quite yet. Which was something he would hope to address in the next week before they returned to the Zones.

Randidly sighed and looked up at the swirling sky of the dreamland. When faced with the power of his image, it was just a matter of time before he would free himself from this place and could work on some of the many other projects that were demanding his attention. And honestly, he would prefer just to remain here; these problems were much simpler. Randidly could only rub his head ruefully.

“It’s tough being king,” he muttered to himself as a last surge of moss spirits leapt at him and were deftly knocked away by the Grim Chimera. “Attracts quite a bit of not-quite-logical aggression…”

Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 204!

Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 205!

Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 206!

The dream faded quickly and Randidly found himself once more on that crowded rooftop. Standing and stretching after the Eidolon Crucible, Randidly tasted the air and felt again the different images that had spread through Earth.

As the sky slowly shifted from darkness to the long shadows of the light before dawn, Randidly began to create his list of goals for the immediate future. On the journey back toward the Zones, Randidly wanted to get Kharon as perfectly poised as possible for the different sorts of reactions that they would inspire from most of the population.

There was magic in this world, and Randidly hoped Kharon could become the symbol of that.

More than that, he wanted to do some more investigations across Earth before he had to interact directly with other factions. When he had sought out that blood-based image out of curiosity after hearing Tatiana’s explanation, Randidly had been genuinely surprised to feel how strong it was. It wasn’t hard to locate, although the image was so diffused over the Southern portion of the Wildlands that it would take Randidly probably several hours worth of concerted attention to track the image to its source.

In addition, Randidly had caught several familiar hints of energy in the air. After leaving the frontlines, it was disturbing to find that the blood image was heavily tainted with the energy of Ileot Swacc.

If Ileot knew about me from his interactions with Shal, I suppose it makes sense that he would want an agent here on Earth to monitor me… it would also explain why the blood image is so strong compared to most of Earth’s images. Only Alana is even close…

It was somewhat reassuring to know that unless something drastic occurred, Ileot Swacc had been dealt with. Therefore, Randidly would only need to worry about dealing with the source of this blood image. Although Ileot had probably duplicated a portion of Earth and given this individual all the benefits, Randidly was confident in being able to take him down.

Other than the blood image… Randidly pressed his lips together in barely controlled fury. In a way that hadn’t occurred since… well, probably since before had any way of sensing her presence, the energy of the Creature was readily apparent across Earth. The scent was present everywhere, as though she didn’t even see the point of hiding from Randidly any longer. It seemed that her response to Randidly kicking her out of the Alpha Cosmos wasn’t a good one.

It was possible that she was preparing for the first Calamity as well, and considering the fact that she tried to stall out Earth in Zone 32’s Raid Dungeon, that only made Randidly more alarmed. The Earth was growing too large too quickly for Randidly to have any real sort of control over the direction of the entire Earth’s growth. That is why ironing out all the issues and hiccups with Kharon’s image was so important.

This would be his symbol. This was the contingency plan if the unthinkable happened.

Standing on the roof of an apartment building on Kharon, Randidly brought the fingertips of his left arm up and pressed them against his eyelids. The metal felt extremely cool against the almost feverish heat of his eyes.

Beyond that… Randidly had to determine what sort of threat the connections in the cleared Danger Zones presented. As far as he could tell, it wasn’t so overwhelming that it would destabilize the current Earth without his involvement. At the same time… Randidly had seen what happened to Shal’s world as combat was elevated to an almost holy status.

Fighting was a great way of improving the quality of an image… but it came with serious consequences. Ignoring those was foolish.

Of course, while I am trying to make peace, people decide to bring back football… Randidly chuckled lightly to himself.

Then his gaze turned sharp as he shited to look toward the Northeast. Randidly focused on the area where the Creature’s vague energy was the thickest. Because it was also in that same spot that Randidly’s Philosopher’s Key was telling him that he could find the next piece of his Fateset.

Not exactly surprising, but a bit annoying of a development...

Humming to himself, Randidly loped back across Kharon’s rooftops to return to city hall. There, he scaled down the Northern wall and entered into an unobtrusive window. Rolling his shoulders, Randidly walked over to the desk and picked up some of the files that had been brought there.

These were more detailed reports on the various movements of different groups over the months that Randidly had been absent. Randidly made himself comfortable in the plush leather chair while he got to work pouring over the reports. He toyed with Ignition Essence, causing the emerald fire to dance across his hands, but for over two hours he carefully studied the tight handwriting contained in the documents. With the energy of both Ileot and the Creature present on Earth, he wanted to understand what they were up to.

So he examined every detail that Tatiana had thought worthy of note.

And he could find nothing.

With a sigh, Randidly pushed back his chair and stood. If it really was just that easy, I suppose someone else would have been able to notice that something is up… but I don’t like this. There’s too much I don’t know.

That thought, after Randidly frowned down at his desk for several seconds, caused Randidly to laugh lightly. “I have an entire city’s worth of people behind me… now’s not the time to worry about everything I don’t know. Better to just… focus on what I do.”