Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 279!

The notification was a welcome indication of Randidly’s tireless progress on his most recent ploy to dismantle the System: pilfering the weight of this tournament by being better than the Nexus at its own, ancient game of copying Nether. That glee was somewhat diminished by the realization that he would be relying on the small scale of the theft to keep the System from noticing and by the fact Randidly didn’t know what the System did with the weight, but it was still a good feeling to be legitimately working against the Nexus.

But despite his general optimism, his face creased into a frown as he looked at the working before him. He waved his hand and dismantled the sweeping tapestry of Nether that he had been creating for the last several hours; the project was ultimately a failure. The inky threads ripped and dissipated in only a few seconds as he steadily recalled all the Nether into his body.

Randidly looked toward the east, where the veil of night was rapidly lightening toward a dreary grey morning, and sighed. Below, both Kharon and the Orchard were slowly humming to life in preparation for the four matches that would happen today. Restaurants opened and gambling halls adjusted their odds for a few last-minute gamblers.

“I didn’t make it in time,” Randidly said to the air. “The weave of the Nether still isn’t tight enough. The result is too thick… Damnit, I hate time crunches…”

Grumbling to himself, Randidly stepped off the side of his island and dropped silently down toward the ground. Even if he didn’t yet feel confident stealing away the weight of the tournament, he wasn’t displeased with his progress over the last day. Even if it was just his familiarity with Nether, the repeated experiments and attempts were drastically transforming his understanding of the mysterious energy. The more he wove with the substance of Nether, the more Randidly began to have some ideas about how he could create the Nether equivalent of a Class.

He didn’t have anything concrete, yet. But he at least had some viable ideas worth investigating.

Congratulations! Your Skill Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart (T) has grown to Level 276!

Right before Randidly smashed into the ground like a human-sized bomb, the Stillborn Phoenix spread its imaginary wings and released a silent cry toward the sky. It’s twisted will warped space, decelerating Randidly and letting him alight almost gently against the ground without any disturbance to the surrounding area. Randidly narrowed his eyes, breathed deeply through his nose, then set off along one of the side paths around the arena. It was only about 5 A.M., but it seemed that the air here was already thick with the scents of food.

Which was good, because Randidly felt like having breakfast.

In a raw lack of self-control, Randidly’s stomach rumbled. What was even worse was that his physically enhanced body produced a noise that was closer to a bear’s growl than to a usual stomach gurgle. The sound was so unexpected that Randidly could help but laugh. He felt somewhat lucky that no one else was yet on the street with him.

He picked up his pace as he strolled toward the nearest source of a good smell, while simultaneously checking his messages.

He had received three messages that required his attention. The first was from Tatiana, continuing her dutiful tailoring of all of Kharon’s news so that Randidly could skim through and make key decisions regarding his city. It was almost too easy to understand the issues from the reports. Truly, her dedication to her role was somewhat humbling to him. This time, the specific focus was the first-ever Kharon Board Election, which would occur tomorrow, the next break day.

In case Randidly missed her general opinion of the timing by her framing of the concerns, Tatiana laid it out very clearly at the end of her message: “Having the election now is begging the Zones to take a swing at influencing us. A government should, above all, do its best to provide healthy and intelligent options for its population and allies, not expect such decisions to be made irrespective of the options available.”

Randidly grinned as he walked up to a wooden door leaking a particularly compelling smell; having the Zones try something was kinda the point.

When he opened the door, the scent within was even more appetizing than he had anticipated. Randidly couldn’t help but lick his lips and smile widely. Which he did at the exact moment that the slender, tanned man standing behind the stove glanced up and met Randidly’s gaze. Then the man’s entire body twitched, as though he had been doused with a bucket of partially melted snow.

Randidly rapidly pulled in his leaking image and shifted his expression to something more neutral. The combination of the hunger and the thought of these Zone bastards trying something… I need to be more careful. Well, honestly he endured exposure to my image better than I would have expected.

“Ah… sorry about that.” Randidly cleared his throat. The small restaurant only had two tables, and both were currently deserted. Randidly stepped forward and sat in one of the cramped wooden chairs at the left table. “I was distracted and let a little bit of my image slip through. Are you alright? What’s your name?”

Although Randidly could clearly feel that the man was physically fine with Grim Intuition, there was meaning to actually asking the man how he was. As Randidly expected, the man blinked and patted himself several times across his body, as though he was searching for invisible flaws in his muscles and joints. Then something seemed to click into place and the man moved back toward his sizzling grill.

While he worked on the cooking food, he took periodic glances at Randidly. “...yes, I am alright. Please forgive me for my poor manners, as the owner of this establishment, welcome. My name is Helio Udunes. What can I get for you?”

“Two plates of whatever smells so delicious.” Randidly smiled, but then he suddenly regretted only ordering two plates; his appetite now was truly ridiculous.

That thought was all the permission his stomach needed to release another intimidatingly loud rumble. His wooden chair vibrated with the noise. Helio’s mouth twitched, but otherwise, his expression didn’t change at the slip; honestly, Randidly was amused to see him struggling so hard not to laugh.

Letting the man work, Randidly rubbed the back of his neck and turned toward the second of the two messages he needed to address. The second message was blessedly short. Lyra simply urged him to finally meet with her for dinner, as he had promised a few weeks ago. She wanted to meet this evening after her match.

Which probably means she is very confident about the result since the match is scheduled for 6 P.M. and she is still willing to get dinner. Randidly reflected as he chewed on his lip. But… her opponent is Hank. Has she just accepted that she is going to lose? Damnit, every time I think I’ve settled and moved past our relationship…

But still, Randidly was somewhat curious. What more could Lyra have to say at this point? He had made it clear when he provided her with a Class that she should consider their history buried. Being sword and sheath for the Village, her support of Yystrix… Randidly had labeled her as effectively banished from his life. Yet she behaved so insistently now…

If this was Lyra from four years ago, this sort of reaction would make sense; when they had first met, Lyra was a rather spoiled young actress. She was extremely clever and capable, but privilege and inexperience meant that she wasn’t the most self-aware individual. This display would simply be her failing to understand the consequences of her actions.

But even if Randidly judged her for the decisions she had made, he couldn’t deny that the Lyra that he had met and seen obtain a Class was a much more sophisticated version of the young woman that he knew. She also knew Randidly’s personality about as well as anyone on Earth did.

If she broke the silence, she likely thought she had something worth the possibility of earning his ire.

Well, Tatiana probably has a better grasp on me now. Her Skill practically monitors my every move... Randidly shook his head sharply. Then he replied to Lyra with an agreement. Fine, it’s just one dinner. I plan on leaving Earth soon anyway, so I can just reject any other requests.

And speaking of leaving Earth…

The third message was from Octavius Shrike. Randidly finally received the details he had so long waited for of the situation in the Nexus.

Randidly sat at the small wooden table and drummed his fingers as he sifted through the absolutely massive message that Octavius sent him. It appeared that the reason the message had taken so long was that Octavius was creating a huge repository of information for Randidly to smooth over his transition into the Nexus proper.

The letter would probably have taken up about a hundred pages if it was converted to a book form. Randidly felt a deep sense of dissatisfaction as he scrolled through huge blocks of text and skimmed through the extremely detailed bios of famous individuals in the Nexus to look out for. His first thought was to forward the message to Tatiana and have her create a more readable version, but he somehow sensed that she would not be pleased about that. So he resolved himself to speed skimming.

Is this proof I’ve gotten spoiled…? Randidly thought with a sardonic grin.

Helio eventually brought over two plates of steaming potatoes, onions, and cheese and set them before Randidly without a word. Randidly began to rapidly eat, his eyes searching through the sea of words.

...the worst part is how officious Octavius writes. Randidly grimaced and used his cool metal fingers to rub the bridge of his nose. Then he blinked at the empty plates in front of him and signaled Helios to bring him two more. This isn’t a report to the Nexus Council… just tell me what I need to know…

About halfway through the letter, some relevant details about the situation began to emerge. The original Vualla had effectively established herself but was in something of a bind due to abandoning her old identity and therefore her previously held Nexus citizenship. Octavius lectured Randidly for several paragraphs that he should only refer to her as Edraine from this moment forward. This was her new identity.

Randidly scraped his fork against the bottom of the second set of plates to clean up any gooey remnants and coughed lightly. Then he signaled for four more to be brought to him. Helio, saint that he was, simply nodded.

I should come here more often, Randidly reflected as he turned back to the tiresome message.

Edraine wanted to take one of the civilian positions on the Nexus Council but needed Tier 3 Citizenship to do so. Octavius explained that the Citizenship coins Randidly had were very valuable because they came directly from an active Cohort. They were needed for her to accumulate Tier 3 Citizenship. Therefore, they were greatly anticipating his arrival. In addition, Randidly could discuss the compensation with Edraine directly when he arrived.

Then the message continued to explain the escalating incursions from Nether forces, the targeted strikes from the rogue Nether King, and the low quality of images that were entering into the Nexus from the Seventh Cohort that had the situation in the Nexus rather strained. Aside from a few unpredictable and inconsistent appearances, there was no central leadership to speak of within the Nexus. Different factions within the Nexus had emerged and were making moves to secure a supply of Aether for themselves and their subordinates rather than addressing the ailing System.

“Basically, everything is about to come to blows, huh…” Randidly said softly. Helio looked up, but then lowered his gaze just as quickly. Shaking his head, Randidly stretched. Well, they likely have been doing the same thing for hundreds of years. At this rate, this can continue for quite some time still.

But it’s volatile. Randidly’s mouth twisted into a wicked grin. A single spark… might burn the whole place to the ground.