Randidly sculpted stone with the intent to create a great stadium for Hobfootie. The stands would be spacious, the bowl of an arena high and totally inclusive. Then, with a method he had observed from Armel working, he used his hands to slice the massive wooden cucumbers into manageable wooden planks to begin patching together the innards. These he physically drilled, screwed, hammered, and fitted together into a whole little village of buildings around the stadium, with a focus on housing and commercial endeavors.

The doors were tall and wide. Abruptly, Randidly realized he would probably need to melt down and cast a lot of glass to finish the buildings.

In a fit of Tatiana-infused inspiration, Randidly created a humongous shopping complex directly opposite the stadium, just as large and perhaps even more opulent in its indulgent sprawl. He found some spare materials he had laying around his interspatial ring and created massive sandstone columns out front. The structure of the interior he shaped with his reinforced blood lumber, which exuded a strange, attractive power by virtue of his energy-releasing qualities. Just being inside the mall would revitalize and invigorate the average person.

This is good… but will it be enough? Randidly bit his lip. Combat was his specialty; trying to judge the reaction of an average person to his building left him almost bewildered.

The Arakis Beasts scrambled to follow Randidly as he flitted from task to task, but one by one their attempted imprints upon him backfired and they collapsed with blood leaking out of their mouths.

Randidly tsk’d and shook his head, but continued to work. By working, he could ignore his worries about the result.

To his surprise, he found the construction incredibly satisfying; the act of assembling all the pieces to form a finished whole was incredibly cathartic. The last dregs of rage he still carried with him drained out as he assembled a shingled roof for the shopping plaza from old dragon scales he had sitting around. When polished, they glittered out an intoxicating mix of amethyst and emerald in the sun.

Satisfied with his creation, Randidly nodded to himself.

He stared at the sky island for several seconds, feeling strange. To his surprise, he found he was disappointed to be done. After a shrug, Randidly rolled up his sleeves and decided to create a second one: this one specifically designed to float outside of Malloon, perhaps high enough to avoid the damned noise of the barrier. In that case, it would be primarily focused on housing. No need to fit it with another stadium.

The second construction lasted long enough that the Arakis Beasts recovered from their first desperate activation of their abilities, attempted to imprint on him once again, and were again rendered unconscious. Almost all of the lumber Randidly had grown over the past few weeks was devoured by the constantly increasing slew of buildings he realized he would need. The air hummed and trembled with his powerful and lightning-fast steps, leaping immediately from one task to another. Waves of gravitation radiation warped space as he positioned materials to be bounded together.

And even with the eight hundred logs he had grown on Jotem’s farm, he had to scour the surrounding areas and pluck up a few inferior, stunted lumber cucumbers to have enough raw materials to finish the construction. He wiped sweat and rain from his forehead and waved a hand. Both massive pieces vanished, sucked into his Alpha Cosmos.

The memory shook violently, causing Randidly to wince; the memory really didn’t like it when he demonstrated a whole world existed within him. It remained the one way he could destabilize the area around him.

Randidly returned quickly to Malloon and introduced himself at the gates, where Westrisser had said a representative would be waiting for him. He was soon introduced to the jittery, anthropomorphic gopher Freewall Yuuryin who would be examining the Engravings and buildings before they were allowed into the city proper. The two shook hands, Freewall’s tiny paw absolutely dwarfed by Randidly, then proceeded outside the city.

Producing the two giant platforms of stone with their buildings caused another tremor through the memory, which lingered for almost an hour afterward. Under Freewall’s watchful eye, Randidly traced lines of Mana along both, purposefully slowing down the speed of his movements and Engravings so nothing was hidden from the inspector. All this effort and investment would be pointless if it wasn’t approved.

After Randidly finished the first skyisland, including the stadium and massive mall, the gopher sorrowfully shook his head. “I can understand the principle, but sadly it is difficult for this old man to follow your patterns; it is radically different from the system I am used to. Innovative and streamlined, without many of the embellishments that I am accustomed to. Perhaps-”

He squinted again at the glowing Engravings around the base of the skyisland. Even though the position seemed to be one of stillness, Freewall looked as though he coiled his body into a strained knot of tensions. Minute tremors ran through his person almost constantly, such was the power of his attention. Even just being near him made Randidly vaguely uncomfortable.

The moment passed and the engineer sighed. “Well, finish the other skyisland. You will need to leave me with these for a few days. Not that I don’t trust you, but I will need to do some experiments with this Engraving Style, to firm up my understanding. And obviously, I will not spread the secrets of your method. This sort of care for Engraving is worthy of respect.”

That gave him pause. “Not even if Faelmac Westrisser orders the patterns to be reproduced?”

To Randidly’s surprise, Freewall only chuckled. “If he wants the patterns so bad, he can come down and attempt it himself. Anyway, I’ll contact you soon, Nether King Hungry Eye.”

Randidly nodded; he had expected the process to take time. For the second skyisland, he did not slow himself down. The first had taken him almost two painstaking hours to cover in the proper Engravings. For the second one, his hands flicked back and forth and threw off lines of Engraving, near fully formed. Within fifteen minutes, it was functional. Leaving a choking Freewall behind, Randidly went back into Malloon and to the inn.

Inside, he found Jotem and Demetrius at the long, communal table in the common room on the first floor. Serving staff moved to and fro, carrying drinks to a constant slew of patrons crowded into a too-small space. A few other individuals along the large table gave Randidly fearful looks, but he ignored them as he joined his companions. The unfortunate Aether inhabitants squeezed together even further, to avoid being near him.

Demetrius asked. “How goes our donation?”

“The engineer needs to run some tests, but it should be effective in the next few days.” Randidly chewed on his lip. He shook his head. “But there is a problem. The more I think about it, the more I’m realizing what a minor inconvenience this is to Drane Swacc. Even if the shopping plaza and Hobfootie facilities are phenomenal, we need something special to draw people in and keep them there.”

Jotem glanced around. “Perhaps it would be wiser to discuss such things in private-”

“The walrus meat, right?” Demetrius similarly ignored any possible eavesdroppers; it wasn’t like the antagonism between them would be hidden. And the more people who understood the rivalry, the closer they would examine strange happenings. “Few places can produce such high-quality meat so reliably. If a special recipe is only distributed in the areas you own-”

“I considered it, but it just isn’t enough,” Randidly sighed. “If we create a walrus patty and start serving fast food… I bet people will pay, but that’s just for food. By association, a long line for food will have other people wandering around the shopping area, but it seems a little inefficient; there are going to be three stadiums for the Hobfootie tournament. The high seeds are all based out of Malloon and want to play there. So-”

“Ahem, in this arena, I have some insight.” Jotem held up a finger. Randidly almost ignored him and kept speaking, but there was a brittle intensity about his expression that gave him pause; perhaps the half Origin Beast had noticed how often they had been ignoring him recently. “Even with just the two stadiums, teams were allowed to designate a ‘home’ stadium. Not that it mattered; everyone selected the superior facilities within Malloon, rather than a rundown, almost amateur one outside, under the harsh ministrations of the elements.

“However, the critical factor is seeding, as you said, Nether King,” Jotem licked his lips as he snapped back to the relevant point. “It is an often overlooked rule, but seedings reset through the tournament after each round, based on point differential. If we can find a talented team that will score more points than others and have them select our facilities as their home base, resounding victories will continually occur within our area. For these rabid fans, they will follow quality Hobfootie almost anywhere.”

*****

Jawem wheezed as he settled down on the wooden bench, but his muscle pains were already beginning to fade. His face was slick with sweat. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping the dust from the hills around Malloon wouldn’t be mixing with his sweat and forming a plaster when he tried to stand up.

Yet his mood was surprisingly positive. After a few days of constantly being forced to wear this damnable vest, he was growing used to its burden. Already, he could feel himself growing stronger because of it.

He didn’t want to admit it, but they were actually becoming a pretty good team.

All of the Miracles were sprawled out in the surrounding area, fresh off an extended fast and slow run to build endurance and sprinting speed. Everyone was drenched and limp. No one could example the mental agony of pushing themselves to their limits; If an athlete had been trained enough to handle the exertion, Devick had handed out a vest. Plus, she had been increasing the base pace recently.

The idea was that two lines of people would jog constantly over a long course. At Devick’s signal, the pair in the back would sprint to the front. They would continue in this way for almost half an hour, as the sprints became more frequent and the players’ legs would be barely able to support them in their ‘sprint’.

“Guys, I just realized something.” Tell laid with his back flat on the ground and his arms spread wide around him. After deactivating his own vest, he pushed himself up onto his elbows. “Our lord and savior Devick believes we might actually have a chance in the Hobfootie tournament. She’s going to drag us to the victory, whether we like it or not.”

“That Supreme Leader to you, chump,” Devick karate chopped Tell lightly on the forehead. With a groan, he collapsed and earned a laugh from most of the other players. Devick put her hands on her hips and grinned around at them. “Okay, okay. Yes, I think we are good. We have worked hard over the past year, honing our teamwork and improving our physical foundations. We are definitely above average.”

“Above average won’t win us a championship,” Jawem observed. “Not against the established teams. They’ve been around for decades; babies sign up to be raised specifically for Hobfootie. Let’s not be too optimistic. Realism-”

“Booo,” Tell blew a raspberry between his hands. Jawem’s eyes flashed, but he said nothing.

Devick waved them both off. “Still, I want our goal to be-”

If she had been allowed to finish that sentence, maybe things would have been different for the Miracles.

“Excuse me, I hope I’m not interrupting your practice. I need a favor.”

The entire group froze. A split second later, all of the players scrambled to their feet, despite how exhausted they had been only a few seconds ago. Jawem took a half step back and grasped at his waist for his weapon, but of course his axe was stored away. But the sudden arrival of Nether King Hungry Eye demanded their immediate attention.

You… Jawem narrowed his eyes. Why can't you simply leave us out of your dangerous plots?